


New Generations

by weirdraccoon



Category: DCU
Genre: At least it's well written, Crack Treated Seriously, Friendship, Gotham is kind of an Arkham City but in the whole island, Hall of Justice is kind of a school, I Don't Even Know, If you watched Decendants from Disney this may be familiar, Multi, Nova Urbia is the rest of the world after Brainiac destroyed it, Post-Brainiac, They care in their own way, Villains aren't as bad as they are in canon, Villains' children, You can waste your time in this, i think, some things from Dc Universe online, why is that a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:15:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 27,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22836133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weirdraccoon/pseuds/weirdraccoon
Summary: Brainiac destroyed most of Earth when he tried to conquer it by releasing Metagenes all over it. Of course, the heroes destroyed him instead, but it was too late. The Justice League divided what was left of Earth in Nova Urbia and Gotham (blame Luthor for keeping the name). While Nova Urbia was a place for Metas and non-Metas to have a better world and a normal lifestyle, Gotham became the prison of Earth, leaving every rogue, villain, and psycho to roam the island, fight for territory, and create their own "families" to take over.One day Superman realized that there were children who couldn't be blamed for the things their parents did. Children who were hiding in the city and couldn't escape before the Dark Border was invoked. So, he decided to give them a chance, even if Batman only accepted to invite five, and only one Meta in case they tried to attack Nova Urbia.What happens when a bunch of "evil" kids are told to be part of a better world?
Relationships: Dick Grayson/others, Joker/Harley, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Superman/Batman
Comments: 18
Kudos: 46





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm in conflict because on one hand I really liked those movies as absurd as they are (Disney's Decendants), and on the other, I think I forgot at some point what I wanted to do with this... I have like 35 chapters ready, and while some follow the storyline I had in mind, others are like one-shots about their lives and thoughts and traumas. I really liked my OCs though.  
> One important thing: Forget everything you know about Duela Dent. She'll be a cute girl trying to follow her dad's example because she doesn't know anything else and in Gotham, everyone is like "family matters as long as they feed you". Dent actually cares about his daughter, he'll even be overprotective.  
> And hum... Idk, I feel like I'm forgetting something.  
> Well, I wrote this to waste time because my school's been closed since November (if you're curious you can google FFyL UNAM I guess, I'm not sure what the word for "paro" is in English). Therefore I recommend also reading it while procrastinating because seriously, it is like not-serious at all and there is a lot of Out of Character for everybody.  
> So... Bye!

Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman were sitting in the conference room at Hall of Justice. It wasn’t unusual for the so call trinity to be together without the rest of the League. It wasn’t even unusual the fact that they were bickering over something. Superman and Batman could be the best of friends, perhaps even secret (not-so-secret) lovers, but they did like to tease each other, and everyone knew the Bat was a grumpy old man.

But they weren’t bickering.

They were honest to god yelling over Diana’s mediation attempts.

“They deserve a chance, Bruce!”

“You were the one who said Gotham should become the jail the world needed!”

“We’re not talking about Luthor or the Joker! We’re talking about children!”

“I gave up Gotham and now you want to what?! To let them out of their cage?!”

“They did nothing wrong! They should be able to come here!”

“They grew up with them!”

Diana, ever patient with her friends, finally had enough. She stood up between them before either Bruce hit Clark (and broke his hand in the process), or Clark pushed Bruce through a wall and became a heartbroken mess over his broken boyfriend.

“Enough!” She yelled, using her lasso to immobilize both men. “I am tired of this discussion! Now we will sit down silently and then we’ll take turns to speak and listen so we can come to a final agreement we can tell the rest of the league.”

Bruce huffed in annoyance and Diana tightened the lasso.

“Yes,” he finally growled, scowling under the cowl.

Clark nodded, once, probably using his x-ray vision to see if Diana had left any marks on his precious Bat. Diana rolled her eyes and led them back to their sits.

“So,” she started. “I won’t use the Lasso’s magic. Please, Clark, you were saying.”

“I was mentioning the possibility of allowing children from Gotham to cross the Dark border,” the man said, glaring at Batman as if challenging him to interrupt him again. “As far as we know, the children living there were at wrong places at wrong times. Some of them don’t even have family in there, they were orphans that couldn’t cross the border before it was finalized.”

“They do have families,” Bruce growled, ignoring the tightening of the lasso. “You forget it was my city, I know how they think, how they adapt. The best shot at having a good lifestyle was to join one of the growing gangs and fight for territory like always. Those children _grew up_ there. They are being raised by all of our rogues. I don’t know what you think they teach them, but I bet it isn’t how to rescue kittens from trees.”

“That’s _exactly_ why they need to come here!” Superman exclaimed before Diana could say anything. The amazon frowned, but Clark paid her no mind. “We should avoid them learning evil and instead show them their potential to be part of a better world.”

“And what of those who were born there, Clark?” Bruce raised his voice, only growling again when the lasso sparkled in warning. “They won’t turn their backs to their families. In fact, not even the _orphans_ are going to turn their backs on them. All this time, since Brainiac, all they heard was how wrong and how bad _we_ were for locking them in there.”

“Geez, Bruce,” Clark mocked. “Why don’t you tell us what you really think.”

Diana huffed, shaking her head while another pointless argument took place over her.

_Men_ , she thought, then she tightened the Lasso, activating its magic.

“Why can’t you stand by me instead of against me?”

“I’m just worried because they are a potential danger to my family-

“I always back you up when you argue with another member of the league-

“You trust so easily, but it doesn’t matter if they are children-

“Even when I know you’re wrong or just being stubborn-

“They could kill you ar anyone else in Nova Urbia-

“And that’s because I love you, Bruce.”

“Not all Metas are as good as you, Clark.”

Diana smirked despite herself, eyeing her friends with amusement and exasperation. Clark looked at her with wide eyes begging for her to drop the lasso, and Bruce had a neutral face, also waiting for her to release him so he could escape the Hall with a dramatic flow of his cape.

“It’s settled then,” she decided. “Clark, you give Bruce the list of children you want to invite to our small world, Bruce, you do your thing and plan for the worst. I’ll let the rest of the League know about this little experiment so they can warn the rest of the population. Metas or not, they’ll want a warning before we introduce them to the junior villains.”

With that, Diana dropped the lasso and rolled it against her hip again, walking away and out of the room before either of her friends could call her back.

Clark sighed and looked at Bruce. The bat was still avoiding his gaze, staring intently at the door where Diana disappeared. Superman smiled softly, floating into Batman’s personal space and pecking him on the cheek.

“Thanks for trusting me,” he whispered.

Bruce scoffed, but Clark knew it was pure stubbornness.

“Just bring the subjects’ identities as soon as possible,” the billionaire mumbled, surprising Clark with a small peck on his lips before he followed Wonder Woman out of the door.

Clark’s soft smile widened.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll update this every friday I guess for those of you who are interested xd

There were two figures jumping and shooting each other across the rooftops of Gotham. It was night, dark, kind of cold. Someone yelled at them from a nearby window, so one of the figures shoot it and the other laughed.

“My, my,” a young female voice taunted. “Little sensitive, aren’t we? If you forget about me so easy I ain’t doing it right.”

“Don’t worry, clown,” another young, but male, voice retorted. “I didn’t forget’bout you.”

“So creative,” the girl rolled her eyes, hiding behind a chimney while the boy shot her. “Is it a requirement to join your family?” She teased. “I mean, ‘Red Hood’ and ‘Black Mask’ are more descriptive than critical, even if ‘Black Spider’ is a bit more dramatic. I wonder how long it took you to come up with it.”

“What about you,” Red Hood growled. “Is it really necessary all that paint?”

“Of course it is!” She laughed. “It’s all part of the show!” Then she leaped over the chimney and shoot him.

He jumped to the next rooftop and took cover behind the entrance.

“Yeah, the freak show,” he growled. “I don’t even know what a jester does.”

Jester laughed, clicking her empty gun. Hood turned to shoot her, finding his gun empty as well.

Jester laughed harder.

“You know,” she shrugged. “Joker may have a lot of aces under his sleeve, and Harley may like to dance around, but I like to hide more than cards in my costume,” she smirked, taking the butterfly knife she had strapped on her thigh.

She pounced on him, Hood ducked and took his knife as well. As much as Jester liked to make fun of Harley because she looked like dancing when she fought, both teens were trapped in a deadly choreography, swinging knives and fast moves trying to hurt the other.

They didn’t see the third figure sneaking up on them from the next building. Using a slingshot, he shot a glitter bomb that made Jester and Hood jump on opposite ways covered in it.

“The fuck!” Hood yelled, looking at the boy on the other side of the rooftop.

“Trickster!” Jester called with a grin, running to the smaller boy and hugging him. “Long time no see! Where did you get that? I bet Harls will love it.”

“You know her!?” Hood yelled. “Dude, she’s been trying to kill me forever and you’re friends with her? I thought you were _my_ friend.”

“Aww, Hoodie, don’t be jealous,” Jester snickered. “You’re still my favs.”

Hood rolled his eyes, not like they would see it under his helmet.

“I was actually looking for you,” Trickster told Hood. “My father says he has what you asked him for,” he eyed Jester. “You can go fetch it whenever.”

“Keeping secrets from me, Tricky?” Jester put a hand over her chest. “I’m wounded.”

Trickster smiled.

“If you want, you can keep those glitter bombs you took,” Trickster told her, and she at least looked a little sheepish at being caught. “I don’t mind. It goes with the show.”

“You do get it, bubblegum!” She grinned, storing the small marble-look-a-like bombs. “Until next time Hood! Tell your boss mine sends his greetings!”

“Wait a minute,” Hood growled. “You haven’t given it back,” he extended his hand, closing his fist around his knife, ready to strike if necessary.

She huffed, “you’re not fun,” she pouted, releasing Trickster and walking towards Hood. She took from his glove a small chip, showing to Hood before closing her fist around it, putting it over Hood’s stretched hand.

Then she grinned and dropped a glitter-marble on his hand. Hood’s eyes widened while Jester somersaulted over his head, disappearing in the shadows of the alley between the buildings. Trickster covered his head. When he looked up, he found Hood completely covered in glitter.

“Great,” he huffed and took off his helmet, shaking it to get rid of some glitter. “Roman will kill me,” he muttered. “Well, no. First, he’ll make me clean up this shit from his rug,” he added, shaking his jacket. “ _Then_ he is killing me.”

Trickster smirked.

“Do you always wear that thing under the helmet?” He pointed to the domino covering the older’s eyes. “Why do you pretend no one knows who you are?”

Hood glared at him.

“Shut it, _Axel_ ,” he said. “Like that freak says, ‘it’s all part of the show’,” he shrugged.

“Dad says it’s a dumb tradition from before Brainiac,” Trickster shrugged. “I kindda like my costume. It’s cheerful,” he smiled.

“It’s dumb,” Hood said in a teasing tone.

“It’s not,” Trickster frowned. “Your jacket is dumb.”

Hood gasped dramatically.

“Take it back,” he said, grinning. “I don’t want to make you.”

“Ha-ha,” Trickster rolled his eyes. “Come on, since your prey left why don’t you come home with me. You’ll at least have something new to show Black Mask. Maybe he’ll let you go after Jester after he sees the new teaser.”

“Your dad will add it to my suit, right?” Hood asked, making conversation while they started their way to James Jesse’s shop. “I want to electrocute anyone who tries to hug me.”

“Then you’ll never use it,” Trickster joked. “Not even Jester is that stupid, and I think she has a crush on you.”

“I was thinking more on Tarantula,” Hood shivered. “She is creepy.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I completely forgot to update on friday... Well, better later than ever I guess.

Luthor wasn’t sure if he was dreaming, if Joker finally succeeded in giving him drugs without his knowledge, or if Batman hacked into Superman’s e-mail and was messing with him.

However, he knew the Bat wasn’t one to participate in pranks. Perhaps one of his sons?

“Mercy,” he called. “Can you scan the archives I’m about to send you and confirm the origin. Compare it to every article written by Clark Kent in the Daily Planet.”

The android slash bodyguard nodded her head, using her hand to open a holo computer in which she opened Luthor’s message. After a few seconds, she closed her hand, the holo computer disappeared, and she returned to her neutral stance behind Luthor’s desk.

“It is legitimate, sir,” she said in a monotone voice. “Clark Kent, aka Superman, is the writer and sender of that mail.”

Luthor hummed, deep in thought. How was he supposed to answer that? And why have the heroes in Nova Urbia taken a sudden interest in the people of Gotham?

When Brainiac released Metagenes and later destroyed the world, the Justice League worked hard to stop evil and save lives, dividing what was left of the world in the good side and the evil side. Gotham was the evil side, and Luthor, as self-claimed governor, decided to keep the name knowing how it would annoy Batman (he even took over Wayne manor before any other psychopath could blow it up and turn it into a jungle). Gotham was formed completely by thieves, murderers, traitors, psychopaths, sociopaths… the main rogues that used to attack the Justice League.

Nova Urbia, on the contrary, was where the heroes lived. Metas who sought to help rather than to destroy. Sidekicks used to be unofficial members of the League. People with no active Metagenes looking for a sense of normalcy in a dystopian world.

Boring people, if anyone asked him.

At least in Gotham, there was always something interesting taking place: a fight between gang members who didn’t know that their leaders were all friends inside his manor. A tantrum of one of the leaders that ended in the destruction of half a territory. The adopted-favorite children fighting for the fun of it, because their leaders were bored and so they got bored in turn.

If he was honest those were his favorite to watch. Axel Walker, Jason Todd, and “Jennifer Jones” were always getting in trouble, so their fathers and adoptive (possessive) versions of parents ended fighting other gangs and causing a lot of panic just to save them or to prove whose child was right.

At least Walker’s usual trouble was simple innocent pranks. Jester and Red Hood were more… explosive.

So he was utterly confused as to why Superman, Nova Urbia's main protector, was asking for them to be part of a new program in his new “better” world.

Along with Two-Face’s daughter, for god’s sake. Even he wasn’t sure what she was like; some days she was a cute little girl staying away from trouble, and others she was the one causing them, daring Jester to steal something or hurt someone, leading Hood to chase after her while little Duela watched on amused.

The only one with an active Metagene invited to the program, Luthor noticed, was Ganymede, Circe’s child. The witch found the girl lost just after the Dark team of the Justice League created the magical border no one was able to break nor cross. Circe taught her to use magic, and even gave her a little of hers planning on using the child as a magical sacrifice to break the border. Of course, it didn’t work, simply because she fell for the child. Pathetic.

The girl changed her name to Ganymede and used her magic to change her body to a more neutral one, so only those close to Circe knew that originally she was a girl and that although she looked like a 16-year-old, she was more or less 30. She didn’t mind others using “she” to refer to her, but she didn’t correct anyone who used “he”. Luthor thought it complicated and simply let it be since it didn’t really matter.

Superman inviting a magician among humans… It had probably more to do with Batman, the paranoic. Perhaps he thought that four humans, albeit crazy and dangerous, were easier to incapacitate than Metas (which, being honest, was true), so he could focus more on Ganymede’s abilities and weaknesses, just in case.

“Mercy,” Luthor called again. “Send an invitation to Amusement Mile, False Face Society, Jesse Jame’s shop, The Court, and Circe to come and have dinner with us.”

“When will be the dinner, sir?” Answered the monotone android voice.

“As soon, as possible,” Luthor murmured, thinking. “Tomorrow, seven o clock. And do tell them to not bring their armies. We’ll be having a nice dinner, after all. No need for their whole team of buffoons. Perhaps only a guest if they really want, I know Joker will bring miss Quinzel whether we allow it or not.”

Mercy nodded, opening her hand again to activate the holo computer.

Luthor turned back to his computer, reading the message one more time.

_Dear Luthor,_

_I know we had our difficulties during pre-Brainiac times, but considering how both our teams worked together in order to prevent the complete destruction of Earth, I have a proposition for your side of the border. Here, in Nova Urbia, we have a compound, more like a school, where Metas and non-Meta humans can move in to learn how to control their powers and abilities. The Justice League has decided to open a new program in the Hall of Justice, in which chosen subjects from Gotham may cross the border and take lessons along with our next generation. This, in order to introduce them gradually to the new world, and give them the opportunity to be part of it._

_Attached to this, you’ll find the list of five candidates that may come to Nova Urbia if they so decide. Let me know as soon as you can of their decision and we’ll agree on a date to send someone to pick them up._

_Best regards,_

_Clark Kent, Superman._

This would be the best chance for Gotham to take control of the rest of the world. Or what was left of it, anyway. But not even one of the five candidates wascapable of following _his_ orders.

Perhaps it was time to wake up Subject 13.


	4. Chapter 4

“Why can’t I go?” Jester whined. “Harley doesn’t even like Luthor!”

“Oh, cookie,” Joker cackled. “ _No one_ likes Luthor!”

“I brought you those glitter bombs!” The teen turned to Harley instead. “Can’t you let _me_ go?”

“You’ll get bored, sugar plum,” Harley explained, cleaning some blood off her bat. “And if Sionis brings Jaybird, I’m sure you’ll make that manor explode in some dramatic way.”

“It would be his fault if that happened,” Jester huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Sorry, cookie,” Joker smirked, showing he was not really sorry. “Luthor said to bring only one plus-one.”

“Since when do we listen to what _Luthor_ wants,” Jester scoffed.

Joker hummed.

“Harley, what do you say?”

The mother figure in that weird family shrugged her shoulders but looked at her daughter with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

“I mean,” she drawled. “Luthor said to bring just one, but he didn’t say anything about forbidding anyone else to join… or to eavesdrop. I know you just want to know what we adults talk about.”

Jester’s eyes lighted up, turning to the Joker for approval.

Joker grinned evilly and nodded his head.

“Perfect. That way if something happens you can blow up that castle and save us,” he joked. “I don’t trust Dent to keep his word about not killing me tonight. If he takes that crazy daughter of his, it’ll be even worse!”

“It’s settled then,” Harley clapped. “You’ll be our perfect element of surprise!”

“The ace under our sleeve.”

“The backup plan.”

Jester ignored them in favor of reloading her guns and placing her domino over her face. She didn’t doubt that Sionis would take Hood with him if he was still alive. She didn’t even use the chip she went to steal, she still had it in her glove. Honestly, she stole it only because she wanted Jason to get in trouble, knowing full well that Sionis was trying to decode it.

Besides, if Sionis did kill her favorite mask in Gotham, she’ll have to get revenge. Better done with a loaded gun.

So, an hour later she found herself on the roof of former Wayne manor. She wasn’t sure what Luthor called it nowadays, but it was probably something uncool. She narrowed her eyes at Black Spider sitting beside Black Mask, wondering if Jason was truly dead, hurt, or if Black Mask simply preferred to have a professional to protect him from the rest of the guests.

Two-Face invited, surprisingly, Catwoman. She wore a permanent smirk on her pretty face, and her eyes went from object to object in the rich mansion. Again, Jester wondered if Dent’s decision to invite Wayne’s ex-girlfriend was based on her knowledge of the manor. She probably knew all the ways to escape unnoticed if a fight broke up.

James and Axel were more relaxed than the others, probably because they knew no one in the room would try to attack _them_. They were pretty neutral in all the war gangs since James only wanted to sell his toys and see them work. Harley was talking to them, maybe about the glitter-bombs Jester stole for her. James looked pretty proud, and Axel kind of nervous but excited for his dad.

Joker was reclining on his chair beside Harley, with a shark-like grin eyeing Two-Face up and down. Two-Face was trying really hard to ignore the clown but his body was tense. Circe and her… child were just arriving. Jester saw them walk in as if they were the owners of the place and couldn’t help but huff. It was unusual for Ganymede to be out of Circe’s woods, but when she was she got on Jester’s nerves. The first time they met, Jester flirted with him because that’s just how she introduced herself, and the witch’s child got pretty angry and yelled at her trying to curse her (thank god, only basic magic was permitted inside the border).

Later, someone explained to Jester that Ganymede was once a girl but choose to change her body and was now the more neutral… human that existed. So, the former girl took offense in someone tagging her like either a boy or a girl because she was neither. Or something like that.

Jester couldn’t care less if she flirted with males or females, she’d probably do it knowing Ganymede identified as neither, but she was a little bitch, so Jester didn’t like her.

“Oh for god’s sake,” someone growled behind her, almost making her jump. “Why are you here?”

She pretended Red Hood hadn’t taken her off guard just now, turning to face him with a smirk.

“What does it look like?” She answered with a teasing tone. “I’m here for tea-time, obviously.”

Hood groaned, looking up at the sky and shaking his head.

“I’m glad you’re not dead,” she said, breaking the silence. “I didn’t really want to shoot your dad on the face tonight. Apparently, that would break Joker’s promise to not murder anyone tonight. Even if I didn’t promise such a boring thing.”

Hood looked at her. His helmet hid his own smirk.

“Were you worried, JJ?” He mocked. “If I recall you tried to stab me with a butterfly.”

“Yeah, but that was _me_ ,” she explained with a duh face. “No one else is allowed to try to kill you.”

Hood huffed and kneeled beside her.

“What’s happened?”

“Circe arrived just before you did,” Jester muttered with a bored voice. “Luthor was waiting for her to star. I guess he was planning on talking business after dinner, but Joker promised he’d make him talker earlier because he knows I get bored easily.”

“He doesn’t want you running around tonight?” Hood asked, surprised.

Jester shrugged.

“Something to do with that stupid truce,” she explained. “Forty-eight hours of peace just because Lexy wanted to have dinner.”

“And he didn’t invite us,” Hood huffed. “At least Duela is not in there as well. I was feeling excluded. I mean, I’m practically in the freak’s table, but I’m here,” he taunted.

Jester glared at him.

“You’re dead, you fucking mask,” she growled, reaching for one of her guns.

Hood stopped her, shushing her, and pointed to the people underneath them.

“Later,” he promised.

Mercy was projecting a picture of Nova Urbia.


	5. Chapter 5

Luthor was not surprised that Joker was the one to demand an explanation as soon as Circe arrived. He was half expecting Dent to be the impatient one, but it seemed that Selina was pretty good at controlling restless men. He should invite her to a private dinner someday.

Back at business, most of the table was looking at him in disbelief as expected.

“ _Superman_ actually asked for our daughters to attend the Hall?” Dent asked. “That’s crazy. Duela will never leave my side. They can’t make her.”

“It would be good, though,” Circe said, mostly to Ganymede but everyone listened. “You can go a learn more about your magical abilities. Here we don’t even have half the power I once had.”

The magician beside her just nodded.

“I don’t think Batman will agree on having our cookie so close to his birdies,” Harley mussed.

“I can’t imagine Jester training with him! Just imagine his face when she takes a rope of tissues from her throat and uses it as a grappling gun!” Joker laughed.

“And imagine Todd playing with the bats,” Black Spider snickered. “He’ll be back here as soon as Batman catches him near them.”

“Please,” Black Mask argued. “I expect he’ll shoot at least one of them.”

For their part, Axel was looking at his father with curious eyes while James regarded the boy with a pensive look. Selina was munching on the appetizers, watching with an amused expression.

From that Luthor was sure of two things: one, James will agree on sending Axel to Nova Urbia as an opportunity for his boy to escape Gotham, and two, the hardest to convince would be Joker.

What a surprise.

“I have a plan,” he said, and the rest fell silent. It had been a while since he could say that. “I bet Batman has a report on the border. The spell they used, the magicians that created it, the counter-spell, and its weaknesses.”

“Magic has no weaknesses,” Circe scoffed.

“If anyone could find at least one weakness on magic, it’ll be the Bat,” he retorted, smirking when no one contradicted him. “If we break the border we can finally take over Nova Urbia.”

“And what about the lots of heroes they’d been brainwashing on being good?” Dent drawled. “I bet they’ll fight along the League to get us back inside this shithole.”

“That’s why we need Duela to attend the program,” Luthor said, taking his chance to convince him to let her precious daughter go. “With her, Jason and Jennifer whispering in their ears like the demos they are, we’ll have more candidates to join us, meaning fewer heroes to fight us.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Joker snarled. “ _Jester_ is not going anywhere near the Bat! What if he tries to make her good! What if he finds _things_ about her that convince her to help _him_ , and not me!”

Luthor sighed.

“Are you afraid your little girl is going to betray you, clown?” Dent growled. “Maybe you should dispose of her before she does.”

“What?” Barked Harley, sending daggers from her eyes. “Are you sending Duela to Nova Urbia? What if your stupid coin decides she should stay, hu?”

Dent narrowed his eyes.

“She’ll never ask the coin something like that,” he argued. “She likes the chaos the coin brings.”

“You’ll leave your decision to the coin, then?” Luthor intervened and Dent’s glare found him.

Without breaking eye contact, Dent showed him his coin and tossed it to the air, catching it in a fist.

“Tails, she goes,” he showed the coin.

Luthor smirked. One down, one more to go.

“And I’m guessing Red Hood is also attending,” he asked nonchalantly.

Black Spider looked at his boss, who nodded.

“He may be able to charm those hero-girls, and even some boys, to join him against the League,” Roman said with a smirk. “And he’ll have a chance to prove his value. Will he kill a brat? Or will he aim for a bigger target?”

“Then I shall show you all the ace under our sleeve,” Luthor continued nodding to Mercy to change the hologram, showing a young boy in a tub. “Perhaps this will convince you, Joker, to let your daughter be part of the team.”

“As if she’ll listen to you,” Joker rolled his eyes dramatically. “She barely listens to me! She’s easily distracted and if she likes something new she’ll forget everything you told her and spent her time in that new thing.”

“I’m sure you exaggerate,” Luthor said. “How would she be able to accomplish her missions if she was easily distracted.”

“Practice on my part, mainly,” Joker muttered, and Harley nodded with a serious face. “She’s nosy,” the clown explained louder. “So I usually keep details from her for her to end her tasks. She knows I explain everything after she’s done, also it doesn’t hurt to send her blowing things up. If you’re trying for her to be silent and work undercover without getting in trouble…” He trailed off.

Luthor was about to speak when he heard gunshots over them. He sighed exasperatedly instead.

“Told ya’” Joker sing-songed.

A bullet went through the glass on the ceiling, breaking the window. Circe created a shield over them, turning the small pieces of glass into dust.

Selina stood up, taking Dent’s hand in hers, no doubt about to flee the scene. Roman and Black Spider were on their feet too, ready for a fight. Axel and James were ready to follow Selina out of the manor, and James nodded mutely to Lex, accepting the plan and Axel being part of the program.

Only Joker and Harley were as relaxed as ever, looking expectantly towards the ceiling.

Not a minute later two figures were falling from there. Tangled bodies trying to hit each other with their empty guns, yelling about thieves, clowns, and hoodies. Luthor noticed when Selina, Dent, James, and Axel left the room but chose not to say anything, glaring instead to a cackling Joker.

Ganymede rolled her eyes and raised her hand chanting something under her breath. It slowed the other teens’ fall, but it didn’t stop their fight.

“Who’s paying for my window?” He asked and was glad when Joker took Jester from the collar of her uniform and dragged her out of his house, followed by Harley and Black Mask dragging a still grumbling Red Hood while Black Spider teased the poor boy about his “crazy girlfriend”.

Circe waved her hand, fixing his window.

“Ganymede will try the program,” she said. “But we are not your employees, Luthor.”

Then she walked out with an arm around Ganymede.

Luthor looked at the holo screen to his creation.

“It’s all on you, my boy,” he muttered, hoping against all hope that the clon would listen to him.


	6. Chapter 6

Black Mask was regarding his young apprentice with angry eyes. Not only had the teen escaped his confinement, punishment for missing his precious chip, but he had followed him and Black Spider to Wayne’s ma- Luthor’s manor, knowing full well that he was not allowed to leave his room.

Truly, Black Mask was trying really hard to hide his pride. Not even Black Spider was aware of the boy’s presence. He was sure Jason would’ve been back to his room before they even left the manor if it weren’t for that troublemaker.

Luthor was clearly delusional if he thought that girl would work with them willingly. She took after her dad, after all, and Joker was never known for his team-work (unless it worked in his own agenda). At least Harley knew when to pick her battles.

“Am I going to Nova Urbia?” Jason asked in a small voice, not wanting to anger even more his boss, but also unable to hide his curiosity.

“Do you want to?” Roman asked, watching carefully the boy’s expression. He wouldn’t want him to be so excited about abandoning the False Face Society, would he? “You don’t have to go, to listen to those heroes if you don’t want to. You can stay here and continue your training.”

Jason looked deep in thought for a second, then looked up to Roman’s eyes.

“About that,” he started. “I was thinking. What if I went with Ganymede. She’s learning magic, but I ain’t no Meta, so I could train with them. Learn their moves. Add a bit of lethality to their non-lethal protocols,” he explained. “That way when I come back here I’ll be able to train the rest of our teams. Take Nova Urbia by surprise using their owns moves.”

It was becoming very hard to stay angry.

Roman smiled.

“Even if we have to work with Luthor for this?” He asked, knowing how disliked the former millionaire really was. “You’ll have to follow his plan and help him take over Nova Urbia.”

Jason shook his head.

“Honestly, all we have to do is stay out of his way,” he said. “I saw the other boy. He looks like a mini-Superman. We stay clear, we don’t go snitching’bout him or his plans, and when he thinks he is safe we take Nova Urbia from him.”

Roman hummed, walking around the chair the boy’s been sitting. He stopped behind him and placed his hands over Jason’s shoulders.

“You impress me, Jay,” he muttered approvingly. Then he patted the boy’s head. “I’m almost scared of you betraying me with how your mind works.”

Jason rolled his eyes, fearless, and looked up at Roman.

“You know I wouldn’t,” he whispered, keeping eye contact.

Roman had to believe him with how his eyes shone with loyalty. God forbids the boy to discover what really happened to his father- his biological father. It would be the end of the False Face Society, all because Roman wanted to show the Joker he could also adopt a street rat and turn him into his legacy.

At least Jason was way more serious than that nameless clown.

“I’ll tell Luthor to add you to the list,” Roman nodded. “Promise me you’ll be a heathen.”

Jason smirked and stood up, facing him.

“You got it, boss,” he saluted, running out of the office. “I’ll pack my grenades!”

Roman huffed a laugh. He never thought he’d want children, but he had to admit it was funnier than he thought. Perhaps it was easier because he wasn’t really his, Dent and Slade were almost always fighting with their respective daughters. Or perhaps it was because boys were easier… excepting that psycho, of course, she listens to Joker’s instructions with all the attention she usually lacks.

Time to imagine being the owner of the post-Brainiac world.

“All those Metas…” he mused. “They’ll all be mine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kind of picture Black Mask from Birds of Prey... Like obsessive and unstable.
> 
> I finished it already so I'm updating one chapter a day rather than waiting to do it on fridays (besides, they're very short chapters)


	7. Chapter 7

Batman was not happy.

But when was he, anyway.

“Bruce?” Dick called, knocking on the gymnastic’s door. “Is everything alright?”

Bruce grunted.

“Dami says Jon told him that Clark’s been rather sad,” Dick explained. “Did you two fight?”

Bruce sighed.

“No, we didn’t.”

“So…” Dick started when Bruce didn’t elaborate. “What’s going on? Is it about the program?”

Bruce turned to his older son.

“What do you know about it?” He asked, walking towards his discarded belt and cape on the benches. Bruce usually took off his armor to train, but at that moment he only took off the cape, cowl, and belt because he needed to hit something as soon as possible.

“Only what Hal told Kyle,” Dick shrugged. “Clark wanted to give Gotham’s younger citizens the chance to be part of Nova Urbia. Sounds pretty good, actually. They don’t deserve to pay for whatever their parents did in the past.”

“You sound like Clark,” Bruce scoffed. “I hope Jon will at least have Damian’s precautious nature.”

“Please,” Dick huffed. “That kid is adorable. No one would ever try to harm him, so he would never distrust anyone.”

“And that’s why he’ll be in danger,” Bruce argued. Dick rolled his eyes. “Clark is not inviting ‘common’ citizens from Gotham to be part of his program,” he explained. “He wants to be sure it’ll work, so he decided to invite the children of the main families fighting over Gotham.”

“They’re still fighting?” Dick raised both eyebrows. “You’ll think they decided to play nice when they found themselves trapped in the same island.”

“Luthor kind of controls it,” Bruce shrugged. “As much as it pains me to say it, he is a good mediator and governor when he has nothing else to conquer.”

“They just let him be in control?” Dick asked confused, furrowing his brows. “Doesn’t sound like Gotham’s rogues.”

“Not really,” Bruce explained. “They just let him think he is in charge as long as he doesn’t get involved. They fight each other and Luthor can oversee the rest of the Island.”

“Like anyone would listen to him,” Dick rolled his eyes. “He has no money left to pay allegiances.”

“No,” Bruce nodded. “But they have nothing else to do, only stay in their own business each.”

Dick hummed, trying to understand Gothamites’ minds and giving up when he realized he never could. Not even with the original Gotham.

“So, who did Clark invite?” Dick returned to the main issue. “You didn’t like it, right?”

“That’s an understatement,” Bruce grumbled, activating his holo glove. Dick could see a list of five people with names, aliases, ages, and pictures.

“He invited Dent’s daughter!” Dick exclaimed. “Wait when did that happen? I didn’t know Two-Face had a child!”

“She’s not even the worst, Dick,” Bruce sighed, eyeing Ganymede’s picture. “I told him no Metas and he invited _Circe’s_ child. He knows he is vulnerable to magic, and he knows I hate magic!”

“What did Diana say?”

“Nothing,” he sighed. “She thinks that since Constantine wasn’t all that good before either, they could bond and Ganymede would prefer freedom than working for Circe once she understands her real potential.”

“If she’s anything like Circe then I’m sure she’ll rather have all her power than share it in Gotham,” Dick mused. “However, I think the worst is Dent!” He continued. “Harvey was pretty unpredictable in his worst days, who knows how his daughter would be! What if she is the same?”

“Then we work around it,” Bruce answered. “Dick, we defeated Harvey on his very worst day, remember? For what I found, Duela isn’t as violent as her father, she won’t attack anyone. The worst she’d do is make up a rumor that breaks up a fight and steal someone cash in the chaos.”

Dick grumbled, crossing his arms, glaring at the screen showing Duela’s basic information.

“If it makes you feel better,” Bruce started cautiously. “She won’t be allowed anywhere near the sports equipment. That includes baseball.”

Dick bit his lips, torn between denying his past trauma and agreeing effusively.

“Okay,” he finally said with a quick nod of his head. “I guess she’s one the main families, Dent always wanted to rule Arkham, it doesn’t surprise me that he tries to own Gotham now.”

“The False Face Society and the Joker are the other two,” Bruce said, pointing to the picture of a young dark-haired boy, and a brunette girl respectively. “I’m guessing Sionis and Dent are really serious about the territory, while Joker simply didn’t want to be left out.”

“Who’s this boy?” Dick pointed to the boy around Damian’s age. “Trickster? Wasn’t he like fifty?”

“That’s his son,” Bruce explained. “Axel Walker, Jesse opened a shop and gave his alias to his son, I’m not sure why. So far I’m betting on him to actually follow the program and stay.”

“Should I teel Dami to keep an eye on him?” Dick asked, the shrugged. “Just in case.”

Bruce looked at the screen for a second, then nodded.

“We’ll keep an eye on all of them,” he decided, even if Clark wouldn’t like it. “I don’t trust Luthor to simply accept the program and not try anything through them. Or their… parents to plot against him in turn. Who knows what they’ll do to Nova Urbia.”

Dick snickered.

“Now you’re being dramatic,” he joked. “Maybe, in the end, they all decide to stay and be good.”

Bruce stared at the list of names intently.

What a nice surprise that would be, he thought.


	8. Chapter 8

The day had arrived. Clark was really nervous about crossing the border. Bruce reassured him he had all the kryptonite left in the world under lock and key in a secret vault in his own closet in his room. The rest had been destroyed when Brainiac tried to conquer Earth.

Still, he was nervous.

And Batman wasn’t going with him because he hated what his city had become.

Diana was excited, though. She wanted to see what the island was like under the care of thousands of lunatics, even with Doctor Fate’s warnings about not splitting or wandering off. He even threatened he wouldn’t go back if one of them or the “brats” got held up inside the Dark Border.

Clark wondered if Batman and Doctor Fate exchanged notes on his new program, both seemingly not happy with it (or at least one wasn’t happy and the other was as stoic as ever).

“Are you sure the Javelin will do?” Diana asked for the hundredth time, probably wanting to change planes for her own jet. “What if we get back with more?”

“We can’t,” Clark said. “Batman forbade it. Luthor said he’ll have them all at his manor.”

“You mean Bruce’s manor,” Diana scoffed.

“Yeah,” Clark nodded, wincing. “I don’t want to antagonize him, though.”

Diana rolled her eyes.

“Let us go, then,” she tapped a few buttons. “Ready Fate?”

The magician nodded but didn’t answer. He was already casting some spells that would allow him to open a section of the border without the help of the rest of his side of the League. According to Zatanna, who was the friendlier of the lot, creating the Dark border was a very powerful draining task. One person only could technically open a small space but they had to be very strong and had to have extremely good control of their magic. Else the border would drain them, a precaution Batman agreed on knowing there were magic-users in Gotham.

They weren’t expecting to arrive in the middle of a fight, but that was what was waiting for them at Wayne manor. At least they were in the back garden and not inside the building, Clark thought, watching how a girl dressed in a blue and grey harlequin-ish costume threw a grenade at a boy in a red helmet and leather jacket.

“What the…” Diana muttered, frowning at the sight. “How is it possible for the adults to watch and not interfere! They can really hurt each other with those things!”

Clark scanned the area and found the mentioned adults talking between them, ignoring completely the two teens shooting at each other just a few meters away. It also helped with his own hopes on the program, for the parents present were talking to their respective children like any other parent would before the child went overboard.

Harvey Dent was talking quietly to his daughter, telling her to be good and cause lots of troubles for the heroes, while Jonathan Crane stood behind him, watching the others closely in case someone tried to attack his boss. Circe was also talking to Ganymede, advising her to pay attention in her magical lessons for her to be stronger than “those wannabes that pretend to know the art”. James Jesse and Axel Walker were actually hugging each other goodbye, James telling his son to try and keep the pranks to a minimum, and to have fun.

It was endearing in its own way.

“Hey! That one was close!” The girl in the harlequin costume yelled, covering a scratch on her shoulder.

“Not my fault you’re so slow!” The one in the helmet answered.

Clark could see in slow motion how the girls’ face changed from frowning to actual fuming.

“I’ll show you slow, you dickhead!” She pounced on the boy with a knife on her hand.

Clark wasn’t sure when she took it out.

Diana was about to intervene, sensing a more lethal fight was about to start, but before she could say anything someone else stopped them.

“Hey, brats!” Harley yelled from her chair where she was sunbathing. “I told you not to kill each other today! Cookie, put that thing away, the heroes are here!”

“Fine,” the girl scoffed, securing her knife back in her leg and helping the boy up. Only to push him back on his ass.

The boy laughed.

“Sensitive aren’t we?” He said in a mocking tone of voice. “All this tantrum just over a scratch.”

“It’s my only clean uniform, you dumbass,” the girl growled. “How am I impressing those fancypants with a torn t-shirt.”

“Like you care,” the boy answered, and the girl smirked.

Clark turned to Diana, finding a face as confused as he felt.

“Oh, Clark, Diana,” Luthor walked out of the manor. “As punctual as ever. Let me introduce you to the children, they have heard a lot about you but, of course, you’ve never met in person.”

If Clark hadn’t worked against and with Luthor as long as he did, he would’ve missed Luthor’s plotting signs. He sighed inwardly. Great.

Duela eyed both heroes up and down, then looked at her father, who nodded, and then turned back to Clark and Diana to shake hands. She didn’t smile, but her blue eyes were sharp and critical. Half her hair was died in white, while the other half was black. Her clothes showed her affiliation with her father’s “Court”, black dress, white thighs, and black boots. Her jacket was half black, half white, inversed to her hair.

Axel saw Superman’s logo on Clark’s chest with an admiration that reminded him of Dick at that age. He was wearing his father’s old jacket, so it looked big on his still growing form, orange skinny checkered pants, white sneakers, and a yellow t-shirt. He also had a pair of blue goggles over his blonde hair. When Diana introduced herself as Wonder Woman, that admiration grew and his blue eyes found the amazon’s.

Ganymede looked unimpressed. She still had slight female features on her face (or was it based on her chosen name?) but she had a boyish look with light orange short hair, green sparkling eyes, a green t-shirt under a dark green jacket, black jeans and bright yellow boots. She nodded her head in acknowledgment but didn’t offer a word.

Jason took off his helmet and shook his dark hair with white bangs to smile a little adoringly at Diana, then peeled off his domino when she asked him to, revealing dark blue eyes. Clark was one hundred percent sure he would have received a bite if he dared to ask that (it happened once with Damian). Jason’s clothes were more neutral, only the helmet showing his involvement with the False Face Society and Black Mask himself. He wore a dark jacket over a red hoodie, dark jeans, and red sneakers. He was the first one they met that was carrying a pair of guns on his hips, a knife in his thigh, and, after a quick x-ray scan, even more explosives and small daggers hidden all over his body.

The last one they met was Jennifer, or Jester since the Bat couldn’t find an official name anywhere. Her harlequinesque costume had all sorts of weapons hidden, as tight as it seemed, and she also wore a pair of guns on her hips and a butterfly-knife on her leg. The hat, sans bells, clung to her neck over her back like a hoodie, but according to her disheveled brown hair, she was wearing it not long ago. She smirked at both of them, waving the hand holding her own domino rather than accepting their offered hands. Her hazel eyes were mischievous and brazen while she looked between Clark and Diana.

“So, if that is all you may leave,” Luthor said shortly.

Diana raised an eyebrow.

“Are you busy, Lex?” She asked, suspicious, and Clark was happy he wasn’t being paranoic. If Diana saw something in Luthor too, then something was going on.

Luthor narrowed his eyes, and Clark could hear how he was consciously trying to control his breathing. His heart was slightly fast, though, and for a man as composed as Luthor, that was an obvious sign of nervousness.

Behind them, the villains were kissing goodbye their children, or in the case of Jason, Jester was teasing him because “his dad hadn’t come”.

“Why would he?” The boy shrugged. “He said everything he wanted at the hotel, we hugged, and he told me to have fun messing with Nova’s kids.”

“Lame,” Jester stuck out her tongue.

“At least he _allowed_ me to go,” Jason answered. “Didn’t you and Harls have to lock the Joker in a closet because he wouldn’t even let you leave the Slaughter Maze?”

“Fun times,” Harley intervened, kissing Jester’s forehead. “Have fun, sugar plum. And don’t go exploding actual human beings, it’s messy and you’ll have to actually clean it up in Nova Urbia. They don’t like blood or intestines on their sidewalks.”

“Farewell, brats,” Luthor smirked, once he convinced Diana that he wouldn’t talk about whatever he was hiding. “Remember my words,” he uttered, sending a warning look towards Jester.

The kids walked behind the heroes in a beeline towards the Javelin. They stopped to hand Clark their luggage, which varied in sizes and colors. He had to scan them to make sure they didn’t bring anything dangerous to Nova Urbia. He’d have to make sure none of them entered the armory, but he was pretty confident Batman would deal with that himself.

“Oh, those are staying,” he said, stopping both Jester and Jason from entering the Javelin behind the other three.

“What?” Jester cried, quite dramatically. “Why? Trickster got to bring his toys! Why can’t I?”

Jason rolled his eyes at the girl’s dramatics and simply dropped his guns and knives.

“All of it,” Diana said, eyeing the young boy. He blushed slightly and did as told, taking from his jacket and jeans and boots more weapons and dropping them. “Good.”

“What if I have to defend myself?” Jester continued.

“You won’t need them,” Clark said. “no one is going to attack you in Nova Urbia.”

“You don’t know that,” Jester crossed her arms.

“I promise,” Clark added. “You can’t bring them. Any of it.”

Jester was about to protest but Jason cuffed her behind her head, receiving a nasty glare in turn.

“Stop whining, ya’baby,” he said. “You don’t even need them to hurt, nor kill anyone.”

Jester hummed and detached his guns and knife, dropping them and more hidden weapons beside Jason’s. Hers were more colorful and looked almost like toys.

“They’ll kill themselves when they meet’cha,” Jason added, grinning and running inside the Javelin before Jester could retaliate.

The girl huffed.

“If that is all we should get going,” Diana said, walking into the ship.

Clark looked back to the adults wandering off Wayne manor. He kind of imagined they’d stayed until the Javelin took off, but it seemed that only their brief goodbyes in front of the heroes were enough for them. Perhaps only his parents were that way.

“Hey, Sups,” Jester called with a voice full of curiosity. “Is it true that one of your weaknesses is something called a ‘Red Sun’?”

Many things happened at once.

Jason yelled for her to shut up. Duela grinned and fastened her seatbelt. Ganymede sighed and rolled her eyes, standing up to help Axel with his own seatbelt. The ground shook and there was a yell coming from under the manor.

Diana looked at Clark, then at the manor, probably thinking the same thing.

That came from the former Batcave.

What on Earth did Luthor have in it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of the things I like the most of Disney's Decendants is the costumes and make-up so I had fun imagining and drawing the characters.  
> So what do you think so far? I was pretty proud of my drawing, although Ganymede and Jason have something off... Idk. Imagine Ganymede like Hilly Hindi in Supernatural parody (YT), and Jason kindda like... Jason from the Outlaws rebirth. The other three I really liked how they ended up, specially Axel cause I had a lot of trouble with the pose and the slingshot. Oh and Conner is like the one in Reign of the Supermen cause he's pretty cool and adorable x3


	9. Chapter 9

Batman stared at the pair of humans currently occupying part of his Medbay. He was not happy with their arrival, much less with the extra subject they brought. And when Clark woke up he wouldn’t hear the end of it.

He was angry because the Javelin was barely able to bring them back. Because Fate had to use magic on the clon and on Clark to incapacitate them enough time to arrive at Nova Urbia. Because both were still unconscious along with Jason Todd and Jennifer Jones. Because apparently, the girl activated the clon that targeted her, and apparently, even in Gotham friends tried to protect friends. Even if Diana said the teens were fighting to death when they arrived at the manor.

At least nothing was broken, he thought. At least the other three were safe and looked truly happy to be out of the Dark Border, agreeing easily to give a sample of blood in order to have “medical records”, he explained. It will also serve with his research on them.

“Good thing they are out of it,” Axel had said, watching Barry take the samples from his unconscious friends. “Far as I know Jay hates syringes and JJ never is really helpful.”

Bruce gathered that he was the only one with a friendly connection to those two, but when Bruce asked about them being friends, Axel couldn’t explain, saying that “it was complicated” and that “they like to mess with each other”. Which, great, he’d have to keep an extra eye on those two.

He had enough with Dick dating half the Hall, for fuck's sake.

“Ugh,” the girl groaned, waking up slowly. “Whoever hit me is death,” she growled, placing a hand over her head and feeling around the bandage.

“A superman clon hit you,” Batman growled, walking closer. “What do you know about it?”

“Fuck,” she muttered. “Dad’s gonna be pissed. He told me to stay away from you,” she smirked, looking the vigilante up and down. “A little old for me, but maybe he thought I wouldn’t care.”

Batman glared.

“Geez,” she raised her hands and then let them drop over the bedsheets. “I don’t know, alright? Luthor told me about Superman’s sun thing and that I shouldn’t mention it, so of course, I had to see why. I thought the big guy would cry or look traumatized. I never imagined that would wake up Luthor’s dirty secret!”

Batman sighed inwardly. It wasn’t uncommon for Luthor to manipulate people into doing something for him. He probably wanted Superman to see the boy and bring him to Nova Urbia, but he didn’t know how to do it without being too obvious about his goal. Or maybe it was him trying to end Superman, like always.

“ _That’s_ what you remember?” Jason asked from the other bed, glaring at the girl. Apparently, he’d been awake a while already. “Luthor gave us a long ass talk about his evil plan to raise that clon like his own son to be ready when _he_ could come in the program and take over for him, and you only listened to the thing he told us _not_ to mention!”

Batman raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t like him,” Jennifer shrugged.

“What do you know about the clon,” Batman turned to Jason, who shrugged.

“Luthor saved it from the explosion at his company and somehow had the Joker to hide it in his Freak House-

“ _Fun_ House, you idiot.”

“Then moved it to Wayne’s-“ he eyed Batman with a raised eyebrow. “Your basement, where he kept it off until Superman told him about the program. _Then_ he told us to make it work for his clon to be part of it someday.”

Batman hummed. So Luthor would use it to infiltrate and attack Nova Urbia for him. The usual.

“Were you supposed to say all that?” Jester asked Jason. “You sound like a snitch.”

“And you sound like a-

“Enough,” Batman said, glaring at Jennifer’s smug smile. “Doctor Mid-Nite will evaluate you. If you’re good to go, meet me at the lounge in half an hour.”

He turned and walked out, ignoring Jester’s “what, no dinner first?” and Jason’s groan. They sounded just like Tim and Damian, so maybe he didn’t need to worry about that extra eye. He entered the sun-force room, where both Superman and his clon where recovering. Clark was laying on a bed not that different from the Medbay, but the clon was inside a capsule that would lower his powers unless someone (Batman) deactivated its function.

He read the results on the clon’s genetics on the screen connected to the machine. Half Kryptonian, half-human. He wouldn’t possess Clark’s full-on powers. They’ll have to make tests and adapt a training routing for him.

If he had just woken up, there was a big chance that they could teach him to use his powers just like any other super, for good. Luthor may have created him, may have used his own DNA to do so, but according to Batman’s results, he was simply a not-so-human sixteen-year-old boy.

Hal used to say he was known for adopting every orphan he met and turned them in mini-spookies.

He’ll have John or his niece do some testing in his mind before taking any drastic decisions, though. It was better to be sure that Luthor hadn’t planted anything in his subconscious before having Jester activate him.

He’ll also need to talk to Clark about it.

What if the man of steel felt they had more than enough children?

“Hi, B,” Clark groaned from behind him. He was sitting up, looking between Bruce and the boy. “It wasn’t a dream,” he stated.

Bruce shook his head, leaving the boy’s side in order to walk closer to Clark and kiss him softly on the forehead.

“It wasn’t,” he said. “How are you feeling? Fate said it wouldn’t have any lasting damage, but still-

Clark smiled up at him.

“I’m fine, you mother-hen,” he said. “How are the kids? How is… he?”

“They’re fine,” Bruce answered. “I’ll take Jason and Jennifer to meet with Tim in ten minutes. He hasn’t woken up yet, but his vitals are good.”

“And that… tube?”

“Just a precaution,” Bruce ran a hand through Clark’s hair. “For us to explain everything before he tries to break down the Hall.”

“Sorry about your manor,” Clark whispered, remembering how it was left after the boy jumped from the Batcave through the three floors and to the roof.

“It isn’t mine anymore,” Bruce sighed. “I hope Luthor is pissed. That’ll teach him.”

Clark hummed a laugh.

“Not to make clones of me?” He asked. “Or not to take your things?”

Bruce smirked.

“He shouldn’t look, let alone touch, my things,” he said, running a hand possessively over Clark’s cheek. “I wouldn’t mind Joker blowing up Gotham because of it if we’re being honest.”

Clark laughed out loud at that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> someone said they couldn't see the picture so I'm leaving a link for any one who wants to see it but couldn't  
> https://i.pinimg.com/564x/1d/4b/87/1d4b871ab170626eda39ded4508874b4.jpg  
> or  
> https://www.pinterest.com.mx/pin/749708669206814830/  
> tell me what you think?


	10. Chapter 10

Dick watched the new kids while Tim introduced them to the rest of their classes. In the Hall, the classes were divided by ages and abilities, which meant Duela Dent would be spending her time around Tim, while Axel Walker would be around Damian a lot. At least Ganymede would be with the rest of magic-users under Zatanna’s supervision (and he hoped Raven would send to another hellish dimension if she tried anything).

What he did not expect, however, was how quickly Axel and Jon became friends. He always knew the super kid trusted everyone he met the moment he met them. Damian had tried to rectify that, at first being mean and insufferable with the poor kid, but Jon never lost his positive attitude and happy grin. That’s why everyone loved the kid, honestly, same reason no one would ever try to hurt him, which only proved him to be right about trusting them.

It was really fun listening to him explaining his child-like logic to Damian.

Jon took Axel away from Damian the second Damian threatened to annihilate Axel, leaving him alone with Collin. That day, Axel met the rest of the supers, and he looked like a simple kid surrounded by his childhood heroes. Even Donna said he was cute, and Chris said that she only thought that because the kid liked her more than three supers together.

Duela, for her part, wandered the halls alone until Cas found her. His silent sister followed Duela around for a bit, and the girl seemed happy with that. Then Stephanie found them and almost started a fight, if not for Cas who stood between them. To Dick’s surprise, Duela was the first to relent, simply glaring at Steph before continuing her exploration, followed by Cas.

“Are you done spying on them?” Tim asked behind him, almost making him jump in surprise. He tried to hide it by coughing and regaining his balance on the beams he was hiding on. Tim smirked.

“I’m just making sure they’re good to stay,” he defended himself. “You never know what Two-Face daughter will be like.”

“I think Cas likes her,” Tim answered, watching the corridor where both girls disappeared.

“Well, Steph doesn’t,” Diack argued.

“She never likes anyone,” Tim shrugged. “Old habits, I think.”

Dick scoffed.

“Come on Dick,” Tim said. “Give them a chance. I know who their parents are but look at them. They’re like us. We’re not Bruce, Dick. They’re not their parents either.”

“If we were like Bruce, it would be fine,” Dick tried. “Bruce doesn’t like killing people, or betraying them, or playing them-

Tim raised an eyebrow.

“Not since Brainiac,” Dick replied to the silent argument.

“Still,” Tim shrugged. “I think they just need some real friends.”

“You’re as naïve as Jon, then,” Damian appeared behind them, making them both jump. He smirked. “When I have to save you from them I will be sure to have a big banner with the words ‘I told you so’ in big neon letters.”

“Neon?” Dick asked, amused.

“Whatever,” Tim rolled his eyes and turned back to Dick. “I have to go meet the other two, you wanna come? Or are you spying them from above?”

“I think I’ll be up here,” Dick answered. “Better take Joker’s daughter by surprise, he always hated when Bruce did that.”

“Did not,” Tim said, jumping from the beam.

“Did so!” Dick called.

“Shut up, Grayson!” Damian hissed. Dick thought he’d left. “How can you be stealthy with all that noise. The point is nobody knows where up here!”

“Relax, Dami,” he smiled, laying down on the beam. “Not even Bruce will notice us. And my noise won’t be the problem, it’ll be all that yellow you’re wearing.”

“T.t.” Damian huffed. “I wear less yellow than you did when you had this uniform.”

“Maybe,” Dick shrugged. “But it looked good on me. People expected me to wear it, it would’ve been suspicious if I suddenly changed it.”

“That doesn’t even make sense,” Damian rolled his eyes.

“You’d think so, little D.”

“T.t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I work on weekend and with all the covid-19 stuff going on the days are way longer since I don't sell and people don´t come into the store and everything is so quiet and empty. Besides, yesterday I stayed at my parents' apartment and I forgot to update, then today I eas really exhausted and I fell asleep the moment I hit my bed. So I'm gonna post three chapterts. saturday's, sunday's and monday's.


	11. Chapter 11

Tim was pretty happy with his life choices at that moment. If it wasn’t because he found Batman, became Robin, was adopted by Bruce Wayne, helped in the Brainiac attack, and became Batman’s unofficial “second in command” at the Hall, he would’ve never seen how Jason Todd used Jester’s hidden glitter bombs (and how sick was that) to bring down his brothers from above the beams.

He made sure to take a picture of their faces when they realized they were not only discovered stalking but were covered in the sticky glittery thing.

“You added glue?” Jason was asking Jester.

The girl shrugged.

“I thought I’d use it on you,” she explained. “Your jacket is way cooler without it.”

“The glue would’ve ruined the leather, dumbass,” Jason growled.

Jester snickered.

“Well, since you’re here I’ll introduce you,” Tim said cheerfully while he saved a few copies of the photos on the cloud and sending some to Stephanie. He didn’t want Damian erasing them, did he?

Dick tried to shake the glitter-glue off, giving up when it only stuck further in his hair. Damian didn’t try to shake it, opting on sending a deathly glare to Jason.

“Aww, he’s cute,” Jester said, receiving the glare as well. “He’s like a mini bat!”

“T.t.”

“That’s Damian Wayne,” Tim introduced. “He _is,_ indeed, a mini bat.”

Dick huffed a laugh.

“That’s Richard Grayson,” Tim continued. “He’s a dick.”

“I’m Nightwing,” Dick said, sending Tim an annoyed look. “He’s Robin.”

“We know,” Jason said, smirking. “I’m Jason Todd, Red Hood. This is Jester.”

Tim waited expectantly for Dick to repeat his mistake.

“You mean you prefer Jester over Jennifer?”

Tim patted his own back in his mind.

“Who even came up with that ‘Jennifer’ thing,” Jester asked, making air quotes around the name. “I don’t like it, it’s dumb.”

“Like your face,” Jason quipped.

Jester growled, glaring at Jason, so Tim intervened. He did promise Bruce to keep them off each other’s throats after he found them fighting outside the Medbay.

“Now you know half the bat-kids,” he said, clapping his hands. “Let’s continue. I promise they won’t be stalking too much, that’s creepier than usual.”

“I wouldn’t mind, really,” Jester said in a cheery tone, eyeing Dick up and down in a way that made the older hero uncomfortable. “But I think the mini bat is way too young.”

“You said Batman was way too old,” Jason said, walking behind Tim away from the other two bats.

“That leaves Timmy here in the clear then,” Jester cheered. “And maybe big brother, but he’s more your type.”

“Is not.”

Tim chuckled. He realized pretty fast that just like Damian threatened to maim anyone new he met, Jester hit on them like a defense mechanism which allowed her to know who to trust (the ones who, like Dick, retreated) and who do not (the ones who tried to get close). It was confusing, but her body language said that she rather have no one near her personal space. She also waved and high fived instead of shaking hands. It was kind of a parallel to Bruce’s own “glaring until they drop their hands”, and Tim found if hilarious in a scientific-observational-kind of way.

Jason, on his part, was like the annoying big brother who would shake hands with just enough strength for you to know he’ll fight dirty if he needed to, and watched closely how people reacted to the crazy little sister with ADHD. The kind of “don’t mess with them because their mine to mess with” sibling. He reminded him a bit of Damian, honestly. It was both hilarious and fearsome.

“And what are we supposed to be doing here, anyway,” Jason asked, looking around the main entrance of the Hall and the lobby. “I mean, we know there’s a program, but what for.”

“Dad said you’ll brainwash us into being little goodie-two-shoes like the rest of Nova Urbia,” Jester said, and it never will not be weird hearing someone call Joker ‘dad’ so naturally.

“Well,” Tim started, activating his holo glove to look for their schedules. “I think you’ll be in some of my classes. Neither of you has an active Meta gen, so you’ll be in the same training group along with Duela. We know you do use guns, so you’ll probably take some lessons with Arrow-

“Oh! More new kids!” A boy ran towards them, followed by a floating boy in green. “Hi! I’m Bart, and this is Kyle. My grandpa is the Flash but I go by Impulse while I’m in training, and Kyle is a Green Lantern, also in training, but they all go by the same title, so there’s no problem in calling him GL or Kyle since that’s his real name.”

Bart spoke as slow as he could, and yet it was pretty fast for Jason and Jester to understand. The first one to recover was Jester, mostly because she was ready to make fun of Bart.

“Wow, a speedster!” She grinned. “Is it true that you lot are the fastest people on Earth?”

“Well, yeah,” Bart said, not noticing the innuendo. “But I’m the fastest of them all!”

Jester laughed and Jason chuckled. Tim facepalmed, Kyle huffed, and Bart looked lost.

“Stop messing with him,” Kyle said, landing between Bart and Tim. “He’s innocent. We like him that way.”

Jason raised an eyebrow and looked expectantly at Jester with a smirk in place.

“Hum, I hear ya’” she said, eyeing the ring on Kyle’s hand. “Say, do you know how to use that toy or are you still practicing?”

Tim tried not to intervene because he wanted to see how it’d play out, but he had to be ready in case Jason pounded on Kyle or Jester tried to kill Kyle.

“Depends,” Kyle answered, eyeing Jester in return. “What do you want me to make?”

If Jester was surprised or uncomfortable with how Kyle answered, it didn’t show.

“How about a nice ride?” She kept the teasing voice.

“That’s easy,” Kyle answered taking a step closer to Jester. Jason tensed, which made Tim tense.

Kyle raised his hand inches from Jester’s face and activated his ring.

The Batmobile wheeled from above them to a stop in front of them.

“I’d say ‘hop in’, but I’m not sure if I can carry you in it yet,” Kyle smiled friendly, turning away from Jester’s bubble.

Jester eyed the Batmobile with a childish grin.

“That’s so cool!” She said. “Jay, look!”

Jason took a calming breath, glared at Kyle for good measure, and smiled at Jester with a tired sigh.

“Cool, JJ,” he said. “Now, stop fooling around. I know it’s not easy for you, but at least try.”

Jester scoffed, then turned to Tim with thoughtful eyes.

“Do you think your dad will let me drive his car?”

Tim couldn’t help but scoff at the mere idea.

“You can borrow my bike,” he decided. “Better yet, you can steal Dick’s.”

“Dude,” Bart said, frowning at Tim. “Dick’ll kill her, and then you.”

“Relax Bart,” Tim shrugged. “We could make some races with them. You drive mine and they drive Dick’s. Kyle could practice his solids and drive his own.”

“Besides,” Jason said. “Only I can kill her,” he pointed at Jester. “And believe me, she’s not easy to kill. We’ll protect you from dickhead if you want.”

“You just want to ride Dick’s-

“So!” Tim interrupted, ignoring Kyle’s chuckling and Jason’s fuming. “I’ll show you your rooms. You’re lucky not everyone stays at the Hall, so you won't need to share. It’s near Duela’s and Axel’s. Ganymede has to stay her first week at Fate’s tower for some tests, but she’ll be around here some days,” he said, walking into another corridor, he pointed to a door. “That’s the kitchen, since you’ll be living here you can go in any time.”

“But you should stay away if Miss M is in there,” Kyle said, floating beside the little group. Apparently, he and Bart added themselves to the tour. “She is sweet, but she tends to burn things and still make you try them.”

“Why do you accept?” Jester asked.

“Because she’s the sweetest,” Bart explained. “You can’t say no to her and not feel bad about it.”

“But we’re from Gotham,” Jason shrugged. “We can be mean and she won’t take it personally.”

Kyle huffed.

“I want to see you try, big guy,” Kyle said.

“Ohhh,” Jester grinned mischievously. “Now I dare you!”

Jason rolled his eyes.

And if Tim made a bet with Kyle and Cassie that night, no one needed to know.


	12. Chapter 12

Diana stared down the three girls that found their way to her office. For some reason, Batman gave her all power over discipline and so far everyone was happy. But those three girls were just more trouble than they ever could imagine.

Stephanie, they already knew. She’d help Batman and the former Birds of Prey even before Brainiac. However, she still liked to play pranks on others, and pick fights when she felt like it. A sweet girl, honestly, all with anger issues. Besides, she went through a lot when she still lived with her father, and Diana was one of the few outside of the bat family that knew about her child.

The other two were new. Batman gave her a file on each one, based on their families on Gotham, their counseling notes with Dinah, and the blood tests. There wasn’t much, really. Duela faked a bipolar disorder but was otherwise perfectly sane and healthy. Batman thought she was probably trying to imitate her father since she lived at the Court with him, and spend most of her time watching him turn from Harvey Dent to Two-Face. In the last couple of weeks, Dinah noticed that she liked to be ‘insane’ because then she had no responsibilities and that was also the reason people in Gotham fear her and her dad, so they left her alone to wander around. She also liked to dare Jester to do things that ended in fights.

Jennifer, or Jester as she preferred it, truly had ADHD (Batman had thought she also faked it since she lived with both Joker and Harley Queen) and liked to move around and make others uncomfortable. Dinah explained it was her own defense mechanism, that way no one would try to get close to her, and she wouldn’t have to worry about making friends, or being hurt (she eyed Bruce from the corner of her eyes when she explained that, but no one dared mention it). It most probably was the result of some kind of abuse in Gotham, but Dinah still couldn’t tell if it was sexual or not, or if it was the Joker or someone else. Diana thought it couldn’t have been him, for the girl talked about her “dad” like Jon talked about Clark.

“Explain,” Diana demanded. Stephanie squirmed on her chair, avoiding Diana’s gaze, so she turned to the other two with an expectant look.

“It was Jester’s fault,” Duela muttered, pouting.

“Was not!” Jester jumped up from her chair, sitting back grumbling when Diana looked at her pointedly. “It wasn’t.”

“Do you want me to use the Lasso?” She asked. The two Gothamites looked confused, and Steph shook her head.

“Kinky,” Jester had to mumble.

Diana took a calming breath.

“Steph,” she called. The girl nodded but didn’t look up. “Explain.”

The girl in question hesitated, side-eyeing the other girls.

“Jester was teasing Bart,” she started. “Then Duela and Cas came outside with Tim, and they went to join them. I was watching from afar when Duela whispered something to her,” she pointed to Jester. “And then she attacked Tim.”

“And you fought her for it,” Diana nodded.

“Duela dared me to take him by surprise,” Jester explained. “We’ve been training with him and so far we haven’t defeated him. I mean, I know Duela can’t fight for shit but I used to fight Hood all over Gotham. We only wanted to make him fall on his ass for once.”

Diana raised an eyebrow,

“And he looked vulnerable,” Duela added, glaring at Steph. “She almost got him, but you intervened. He wasn’t expecting an attack surrounded by his friends.”

Diana would surely comment to Dinah on how they seem to classify themselves in that category. At least Duela did, she did seem to enjoy being around Cas.

“Because he isn’t supposed to expect that!” Stephanie exclaimed, facing Duela. “I don’t know how you treat others in Gotham, but here you don’t go around tackling them to the ground.”

Duela and Steph were in a staring contest when Jester broke the silence.

“I usually throw acid at them,” she said as if she was talking about the wheater. “Or shoot at them,” she added, looking pensive. “Or whatever I have in hand, like those glitter bombs Trickster gave me. Once I only had a marble, but it turned out fine because I hit the eye!”

Diana was very close to facepalming.

“Besides, Bats said that we should always be on alert,” she shrugged. “I’m pretty sure Redbird can fight his own battles.”

Stephanie glared at her.

“With you lot, better not take chances,” she hissed.

Duela glared back while Jester grinned maliciously. Great. Jester will try to hurt Steph sometime soon. Diana could only hope she aimed for her pride rather than her head.

“You two,” she pointed to Jester and Stephanie, recovering their attention. “You have to be punished because you participated in an actual fight, not training, not even roughhousing. You,” she pointed to Steph, “almost broke her arm. And you,” she pointed to Jester, “tried to stab her with a stick.” She frowned. “You’ll be on cleanup duty for the rest of the month. I want every training and sports equipment clean and in place every night.”

Steph frowned but nodded. Jester glared but didn’t argue so she’ll take it as a win.

“And you,” Diana turned to Duela. “You didn’t do anything wrong, but I’ll warn you, stop getting her in trouble,” she eyed Jester. Duela smirked but didn’t argue either. “She doesn’t need you to do that. Already has enough as it is. I will also increase your training exercises,” the smirked turned to a pout. “Jester’s right. You can’t fight, and you need to be able to at least defend yourself.”

Diana sighed, watching them a few seconds. When no one said anything she nodded to the door.

“You may leave.”

“Thanks,” Steph said.

“Right,” Duela grumbled.

“Bye, double-double-v!” Jester called.

Diana wondered about Jester preferring her alias to her name (although they weren’t sure if it was her real name) and also calling everyone else by their aliases rather than their names, or some form of it. But it was more Dinah’s specialty to wonder about that sort of thing, so she’ll give her time and then ask about her theories. For now, she had another meeting.

“Jason, Dick,” she called. “Come in.”

The two boys were glaring daggers at each other. Dick was covered in mud, and Jason’s hoodie looked burned. Jason also smelled slightly of smoke, and not cigarette smoke.

Diana sighed.

“Hera, give me strength,” she begged under her breath, then turned to the boys. “Explain.”


	13. Chapter 13

Subject 13 wasn’t a real name. Subject 13 was a reminder of what he wasn’t. Subject 13 was a tag used by a bunch of people to identify him from every other attempt of cloning.

So he was looking for another name in the computer Batman, Bruce, allowed him to use.

“What about Terry?” Tim asked, scrolling down the ‘T’ page.

The former Robin wanted to help him after Bruce introduced them. Bruce had explained everything he knew at the time and promised to make more tests just to confirm he was free of Luthor’s control. Subject 13 was sure he was free, he didn’t feel anything inside his mind, and the Martians said there was nothing problematic in his subconscious.

“No, wait, what about Tylor?” Tim asked.

Jon groaned. The little super kid had adopted Subject 13 as fast as he adopted Axel Walker, dragging him around with him, showing him the Hall, wandering around Nova Urbia, introducing him to his siblings. Subject 13 had been staying in the special Medbay while Batman ran some tests, and then one day, Jon and Axel walked in and stayed.

“Damian said you were a copy of my dad,” he had explained. “If you’re like brothers should I call you uncle? It’ll be weird cause Chris is like my brother and he’s older than you.”

Batman had hidden his smirk, but Subject 13 was pretty sure he thought the kid was adorable. He thought so, after all.

“Why it has to start with a T?” Jon asked Tim. “Why not with a J? Or a C, like Chris and Clark!”

“Even Kara has a C-sound,” Axel pointed out.

Tim hummed, then clicked something and the screen changed to names with C.

“Go ahead, then,” he said to Jon. “Find something he likes.”

Jon looked at the screen with a serious expression, as if he had the most important mission to accomplish. He scrolled for a few minutes, then he turned to Subject 13.

“What do you think of ‘Conner’?”

He could feel Tim’s and Axel’s eyes on him too.

“It kind of suits,” Tim nodded.

“Is not as boring as Terry,” Axel added. “Or Timothy.”

“Hey!”

“Do you like it, Conner?” Jon asked again.

Subject 13, or Conner, nodded approvingly but awkwardly.

“Cool!” Jon cheered. “I’ll tell everybody about your new name so no one reminds you of the tag.”

Jon took Axel by the hand and dragged him out of the computer lab. Conner smiled at their backs.

“He is cute,” he said softly.

“Yeah,” Tim agreed, closing the baby-names page and opening Subject 13’s folder to change it to ‘Conner Kent’. “He is the best of us.”

Conner looked at him, expectantly.

“He used to live with his mom at a farm when Brainiac came to Earth,” Tim explained. “He was very small, and we all thought he’d have trouble adapting since his powers were activated way too early. Superman got them when he was in high school, same as Chris, but he isn’t completely sure because his real parents experimented with yellow-sun radiation on him before dropping him on Earth and he doesn’t remember much. He thinks he had some powers before he arrived but he can’t say which ones,” Tim shrugged. “Anyway, when Brainiac released his Metagenes on Earth, it activated Jon’s natural powers. He’s still learning though, can’t fly very well yet.”

Conner seemed to think about it for a moment.

“Do you think I’ll be able to fly?” He asked. “I tried to, at that… place. I tried to fly and escape but I only broke the house down and landed on its roof.”

Tim hummed looking over Conner’s files.

“Well, you’re half-human,” he mused. “Perhaps you won’t have the whole Kryptonian package, but it also means that you could have something they don’t. Luthor was pretty smart,” Tim said, closing the files and locking the computer. “Maybe you’ll be a super-scientific or something.”

The clon huffed and followed Tim out of the room.

“Cool either way,” Tim said, smiling at Conner. “We’ll help you find yourself.”

Conner smiled back. He had basic knowledge thanks to Luthor’s machines, but he couldn’t have imagined that one day he’ll have a friend. That’s what Tim was, right? And Jon, and Axel…

Even Superman, Clark, apologized for having to hit him with magic at the time. Conner didn’t understand why he apologized, after all, he was also immune to magic. Batman seemed to know what he was thinking at the time and simply smirked, saying that they knew he was scared because he had just woken up in a strange cave under a stranger’s manor.

“I’d like that,” Conner said to Tim. “I want to fight too, like you. I saw you yesterday.”

Tim’s cheeks reddened slightly.

“Yesterday?” He squeaked, and damn when was the last time his voice broke like that. “I mean,” he cleared his throat. “It was only a demonstration. Not the real deal.”

“It was good,” Conner shrugged.

“I’ll tell Bruce to add your training sessions then,” Tim patted him on the back. “And Clark will be ready to start your super training as well. Whenever you’re ready.”


	14. Chapter 14

Jason found Meghan Morse in the kitchen one long night while he procrastinated a dull report John Stewart had given him to do.

He was halfway through when he felt his eyes dropping. He groaned and stretched his arms over his head. He wasn’t tired, really, but the report was so fucking boring he didn’t know why people did them. Why didn’t they just leave it? What was the purpose of writing everything that happened during a mission, or a training session, or a simple stakeout? Apparently, it was to have a base in case another mission was similar.

So useless.

If Jason had realized something during his life in Gotham it was that no mission was the same, and you had to adapt to the mission each step of the way. His fights with Jester, for example. He never knew what the crazy bitch would try on him, only that it would get _him_ in trouble. So he had to change tactics every few minutes, and his reports would all be like “she tried to kill me again but this time she used a bubble gum with acid, so I put it in her hair”.

Yeah… He didn’t think so.

“Oh, hi!”

Back to the moment, Jason stepped inside the kitchen, planning on grabbing a coke or something to drink only to find Meghan. The green girl was making cookies, it seemed. She was always giving cookies away, now he knew when she had the time to make them.

“Hi,” he replied, waving his hand on his way to the fridge. She’s been nice to him since they arrived, well, as nice as she could be without actually talking to him. Not like Grayson and his ugly frowny face every time they’re around each other.

“Can’t sleep?” Meghan asked with a bit of worry.

“I’m doing Steward’s _homework_ ,” he spat the word. “You? Do Martians need to sleep?”

“Well, technically, yes,” she explained. “But not as much as humans, so I try to perfect my cookies. People eat them and say their good but I feel like they could be better.”

“Less burnt?” Jason smirked, showing he was only joking. Half-joking. He hadn’t even tried them.

Meghan laughed, not taking offense at all.

“Exactly,” she said. “The only ones asking for more are the speedsters, but I know they’ll eat anything they can find. Once, I saw Bart eating a worm just because Wally dared him to.”

Jason hummed, sipping his can of soda.

“I’ve only met Wally once,” he said. “But from what I know of Bart I’m sure he would’ve eaten it anyway.”

Meghan laughed again.

“You may be right.”

She turned to the oven and opened it. The cookies inside smelled a little burned, but she seemed pleased with the golden tint they had. They did look fine at first glance.

“Do you want to try one?” She said, blowing on them to cool them.

And then Jason remembered Kyle claiming that no one could say no to the nice Martian. Looking at those happy and expecting green eyes, he understood. Meghan was a sweet girl, and he couldn’t imagine disappointing her or hurting her, not even angering her. He’ll dare Jester to that only because now that he thought of an angry Meghan he was curious to see it.

“Sure,” he shrugged, receiving the biggest smile yet.

He munched on the cookie finding it was good enough for him, a kid from Gotham who had to steal those sweets if he wanted them. Sionis did give him a home, a kind of job, a purpose, food, and all basic necessities… but he wasn’t one to give candy.

He envied Jester for it. Only a little.

“It’s really good,” he said, taking another one and making Meghan smile even more. “I might steal a bunch of these before you give them away.”

Meghan snickered, grabbing a bag from a drawer and tossing the rest of the cookies in it.

“You can have them without stealing, Jason,” she smiled. “You can ask for more, too.”

Jason blushed.

“Thanks,” he mumbled, grabbing the bag. “I’ll… hum... I’ll go now. Have a good night, Miss M.”

“Bye, Jason,” she answered and her eyes glowed for a second. “Oh! And if you want I can also teach you how to bake!” Jason turned. “I know it’s not a warrior’s ability or something that could help in Gotham, but it’s fun. I find it even therapeutic.”

Jason smirked.

“I’ll think about it,” he promised.

While he walked back to his room he wondered if the Martian had used her powers on him, or if he was that easy to read, or if he simply thought too loud. Truth was he would really like to learn that particular skill. That way he wouldn’t have to rob stores, he’d use Sionis’ kitchen instead. Maybe he’ll even tell him how good he was at something that wasn’t crime-related.

He opened the laptop Wayne gave him and stared at the unfinished report on the screen.

He wasn’t sure why he tried. Why they all were trying to fit in.

Duela and Axel were acting like normal kids making friends. Duela hadn’t even used her cent aside from bullshitting her exams, and she even went to Ballet with her friend Cas. Axel’s pranks were the same as always, but no one chased him to “teach him a lesson”, so he was free to be a kid. And he hadn’t seen Ganymede in a while but last time he saw the magician she was smiling at the rainbow she invoked. She sure was happier with her magic unbounded.

Subject 13, or Conner, found a family. None of the supers showed hostility towards the clon, and they were helping him to discover his powers. Even Wayne treated him like he treated all of his children, training him, testing him, showing affection in that subtle way he preferred. And Conner looked happy. He made friends as well, but Jason thought it was easier for him to feel part of Nova Urbia because he didn’t live in Gotham for more than three hours.

Even Jester had picked a new hobby. She drew whatever came to her mind and then told Kyle to recreate it with his ring. He was more surprised at the fact that she had a friend than at how natural she was at drawing. Even more surprising was how GL tolerated her outbursts and teasing. But she looked uncomfortable whenever they had to interact with the rest of the heroes. She fought a lot, and she didn’t even try to be part of them. Well, it didn’t help that the others were defensive and cautious every time she showed up, staring at her as if she would attack someone at any second.

Jason knew that even if they tried to fit in, in the end, they will be going back to Gotham. To their criminal lives, fighting over territory, stealing things for their bosses, stealing things they found pretty, terrorizing the low-level thieves, torturing other gang’s members, blowing up shit, and killing for the fun of it, or because psychos like Zsasz tried to kill them first.

He closed the laptop with more force than he intended and took another cookie.

When he got back at least he’d know to make those. And pie. That’d be awesome.


	15. Chapter 15

Duela watched, amused, while streaks of red and blue and yellow and white created a strong wind that almost made her and Cas fly away. It was as annoying as it was amusing.

“Tag!” Bart yelled, somewhere. “You’re it!”

“Aw, man!” Wally whined, stopping for a second to look for his target.

Kara, Jon, and Chris were in the air, waiting to see where Wally will run. Conner and Bart were on the ground, also ready to jump out of the way if Wally decided to run towards them.

Wally ran to the closest tree and tried to jump on Chris, but the oldest Superboy flew out of the way, laughing while Wally fell.

Duela and Cas flinched when the speedster made it to the ground. Both knew they didn’t have to worry. Wally jumped to his feet a second later and ran after Conner. The super clon jumped over him, but Wally knew he wasn’t used to his powers yet, so not superspeed. He went back to tag him and when Conner tried to dodge, Wally ran to the other side and touch Conner’s shoulder.

“Tag! You’re it!” He sing-sang and ran away.

Conner groaned, looked around, and focused on a giggling Kara.

It was true that Conner couldn’t fly yet, but he tried, and he could jump as far as the rest could fly. Kara yelped and moved out of the way just as Conner was at her eye level. Then, to everyone's surprise, Kara was dragged by an invisible force towards Conner while he dropped.

He caught her by the ankle, saying “Tag”, and running out of the way.

Duela could feel her eyes as wide as Garfield’s when he changed into that ugly hamster.

“What was that?” Wally asked.

“Conner,” Chris called, helping Jon to land without breaking the ground. “You did that?”

Conner looked confused.

Duela would never in a billion years admit that she wanted to help anyone. That kind of thinking usually got you killed, or worse, in Gotham. So she threw her cent, the one she kept in honor of her dad, and left her decision to chance.

Cas watched her curiously with a small smile Duela decided to ignore.

“Well, fuck,” she muttered.

Cas grinned and got up from where they were stretching. Then, both girls walked closer to Conner, each taking a solid stance at both sides of the clon. Duela glared at Chris, daring him to say something against Conner.

Conner, on his part, looked confused.

“We are not angry,” Jon said, frowning up at Chris. “Right? We’re just curious. It looked like you used your mind to get her to you.”

“B did say that you could have powers they didn’t,” Cas said to Conner.

“At least you have hair,” Bart joked, Chris’ frown deepened, and Duela understood his problem with Conner’s new power.

“He’s not him,” she spat, looking straight at the first son of Superman. “Luthor doesn’t even have powers. But if you want Conner to be as bad as that idiot, I can help with that,” she hissed. “After all, I’m from Gotham. I know how to be bad.”

Chris raised an eyebrow and it was Kara’s turn to frown.

“You’re not bad, Duela,” Kara said.

“You don’t even know how to fight,” Chris interrupted. “Damian is better at being bad. If we want a real villain we’ll call Todd. He’s less of a joke than you or Jester.”

No one was prepared to have an angry Bat pouncing over Chris and leaving him laying on the ground. He wasn’t hurt because Bruce had all the kryptonite, still, he groaned and blinked confused at the sky.

Cas took Conner’s hand and smiled up at him before walking away, dragging him with her. Jon followed, floating and telling Cas how awesome she was and to teach him to do that. Kara, Wally, and Bart laughed at Chris’ expense.

Duela smirked down at him.

“I think you fell,” she taunted.

Kara put an arm over Duela’s shoulder.

“C’mon, sis,” she said. “Let’s go with Cas, I wanna see Conner’s new power.”

“You want her to teach you that move,” Wally teased, offering a hand to Chris.

“Of course I do,” Kara nodded, leading Duela away from them. “Don’t listen to him,” she whispered. “He’s just jealous because you’re all doing better than he expected.”

“He had a bet with Dick and Roy, you know,” Bart explained, following them after Cas. “The only one who believed in the program was Roy, but he kind of understands where you all come from. Dick and Chris, on the other hand,” he trailed off, then shrugged and smiled at her. “Their bet was how much you’d last, and how much you’d destroy.”

“But we like you,” Kara added, squeezing Duela’s shoulder. “All of you.”

Duela smiled, but couldn’t help but think how the rest were still defensive when either of them entered a room. At least Cas was scary enough to shield Duela without even saying a word. It made it easier for Duela to pretend that she was part of them.


	16. Chapter 16

Jon was holding Axel’s hand while they ran through the Hall’s grounds. Axel had the amazing idea of pranking Robin, and when Jon realized what the other had done, he had time to take his hand and ran. They could still hear Damian’s angry yells and his footsteps trying to catch to them. Jon was worried about his new friend’s life, but Trickster didn’t seem too preoccupied. When he found an empty room they could hide in, Axel was still laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes.

“What were you thinking?” Jon asked. “He’s gonna kill us!”

Axel, still shaking with laugher, denied with his head.

“He won’t,” he said after a while. “You’re invincible and B has all the kryptonite, I know ‘cause I heard Damian whined about it to Collin. And to kill me he’d have to catch me first, I’m sure Jay won’t let him near me when he hears about this.”

“You’re awfully optimistic,” Jon mumbled.

“Well,” Axel shrugged. “Coming from an island where I could’ve been killed for less, I like to take my chances here. Besides, you can’t deny that was the best! Did you see his face? He wasn’t expecting it at all! When was the last time you caught a bat off guard?”

Jon had to admit the kid had a point. He cracked a smile.

“Yeah, I wish I had a camera,” he chuckled. “But, really, we’ll have to avoid him for the next couple of days. I don’t trust him not to break into Batman’s safe to get back at us.”

Axel smirked.

“Don’t worry!” He exclaimed. “I’ll protect you!”

“That means Jason protects us,” Jon chuckled. “Not you.”

“I know how to fight,” Axel shrugged.

Jon looked at his friend, humming.

“Yeah, okay,” he smiled. “Wanna go to my house and play with Krypto?”

“Oh yes!” Axel jumped. “Will Kara be there? I like it when she takes me flying over the farm.”

“I can do that too,” Jon pouted. “But you think I’ll drop you.”

“I trust you, Jon,” Axel put a hand on the super’s shoulder. “But I saw you fall yesterday. I’d like to live for more than eleven years, thanks.”

Suddenly the door opened. They yelped, thinking it was Damian who found them and was about to torture them, then sighed in relief when they saw it was Jason and Cas, giggling to themselves.

“Do you think they saw us?” Jason asked the girl, she shrugged, still giggling. “Oh man, that was so awesome. Dick’ll never know what hit him!”

“What did you do?” Axel asked grinning proudly. “We pranked Damian, so we’re hiding before he tries to kill us.”

Cas laughed harder and hugged Axel. Jon thought how weird it was to see her like that.

“Really?” Jason asked, turning to Jon who nodded. “So that’s why he was so angry.”

“You pranked him too?” Jon asked, floating closer.

“Not really,” Jason explained. “We ran into Dick, and then Damian yelled at him to help him in his search of vengeance or some shit. You know how Dick likes me,” Jon knew Dick didn’t like Jason at all. “And he was telling me about safety shit at the lab and how I should respect the older heroes and bla bla bla…”

“I locked little D and big D in the broom closet,” Cas said with a proud grin.

“And Damian kind of exploded in glitter,” Jason finished, fist-bumping Axel. “Thanks for that midget. I don’t think they expected it.”

Jon turned to Axel.

“I thought you used all your glitter bombs in his locker,” he said.

“Maybe one didn’t explode and he had it in his pocket,” Axel wondered.

Cas ruffled his hair, and Jon could see how much his friend liked it there. Even if he continued to prank everyone he crossed. Just like Jason seemed to fit in even if he was way more violent than the heroes. They were good.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I completely forgot about this... oh well

Bruce watched as his students trained, sparring with each other. It was one of those days he allowed them to fight without considering their ages. Besides, it was a Sunday and there was no one in the Hall but them. It was his turn to babysit, as Jordan put it.

Jason was actively trying to kill Dick. Jester, seeing him, followed his lead and attacked his first Robin from behind. Bruce felt proud when Dick avoided both of them, although he could do less with the acrobatics.

Duela and Cas started sparring as he told them, but at some point during their training, they changed tactics and were instead doing ballet. Bruce sighed. At least both of them seemed happy.

Tim and Stephanie were actually sparring with non-lethal force, nor useless movements, as did Damian with Axel. However, Axel was taking it like a game that frustrated Damian, and Bruce could notice Damian’s anger increasing every time Axel dismissed an instruction on how to deflect.

He wondered how was Zatanna doing with Ganymede and if perhaps she’d change places with him.

“Jester! Drop that thing!” The girl pouted but let go of the sharp rock he had ready to strike Dick with. “Jason! Keep your stance more steady!” The boy huffed but listened, deflecting a kick from Dick way easier than he would have before. “Tim! Change partners with Damian!”

Damian scowled at him, probably about to tell him that he could with the prankster, but a look from Stephanie stopped him.

“You’re going down, Brown!”

“Bring it on, hell-spawn!”

Bruce imagined patting his own back while he watched Damian happier to have serious training, Stephanie laughing while she taunted Damian, Tim teaching Axel new moves to distract the opponent (which wasn’t training, exactly, but at least Tim got the kid’s attention), and Dick showing off his acrobatics.

He knew, in a way, that Duela and Cas ignored the training because Duela wasn’t a very good fighter. Cas was as good as Dick, as Bruce himself even, but she had adopted Dent’s daughter since the first day they arrived. Bruce was very proud when Cas admitted that she saw her sad and uncomfortable wandering the Hall alone, so she decided to be friends with her and make her company. Cas knew better than any of his sons how it felt to be alone, and if she gained a new friend in turn, then Bruce was also happy.

“Now I’m dizzy,” Jester groaned.

Bruce turned to see her on her back, laying on the ground, while Jason tried to hit Dick. Dick was already hopping over Jason, making him spin to follow Dick’s movements.

“You’re like a fucking rabbit,” Jason growled. “Can’t you stay still?”

Bruce smirked. How many times did he wonder that same thing when he first adopted the acrobat?

“If you catch it,” Jester said, looking towards them upside down. “I’ll skin it and set it on fire.”

“What’d ya’ mean ‘if’!” Jason yelled.

“Why would you skin a rabbit only to set it on fire?” Dick asked, worried.

Jester shrugged.

“Dunno,” she mumbled. “Sounds fun, I guess,” she shrugged, then hummed, watching him jump over Jason, again, to avoid a fist punch. “You kindda fight like my mom.”

Dick frowned, confused, looking at the girl sprawled over the grass.

“Grayson!” Damian yelled. “Look out!”

Bruce winced when Jason’s leg connected to Dick’s head. Amateur mistake, he mussed, then he ran towards them when Dick took more than six seconds to sit up.

Jason didn’t look worried. Damian was angry.

“It’s supposed to be training you damn fool!” The kid yelled, going up to Jason’s face and glaring at him. Even Bruce knew Damian was looking like him. “You had to tap him! Not break his head!”

“I didn’t,” Jason growled. “If you want I can show you how hard I kicked him.”

Bruce touched Dick’s head. It was fine, no bumps, no blood. Dick was looking up at the sky in bewilderment. So just the fact that he lost.

“It’s fine, Damian,” Bruce said, shaking his head at his oldest son and dropping his head. “The only thing severely hurt is his pride.”

Jester jumped to her feet and raised her hand towards Jason.

“Hell yeah,” she cheered. “You defeated Robin number one!”

Jason rolled his eyes, smirked, and high fived his friend.

Tim snickered, Damian frowned, Duela smiled mockingly, Axel grinned, and Cas tilted her head.

“Yeah, yeah,” Dick huffed. “He took me by surprise, that’s all.”

“The first thing B told us was ‘never let you guard down’,” Axel recited. “Not when the fight seemed to have ended, even less when you’re in the middle of it.”

“Besides,” Tim added. “Jester wasn’t even trying to distract you.”

“It’s weird hearing her call Harley ‘mom’,” Dick explained, then he looked at Bruce waiting for his dad to defend him, but Bruce only shrugged. “It startled me.”

“Imagine you’re back in Gotham and that happened,” Bruce offered. “Not even their Gotham, I mean the pre-Brainiac Gotham. You were Robin then and you got distracted a lot, but you knew to stay focused during fights. You’d be dead if this had happened back then.”

“Maybe all of you forgot how it was to fight our dads since Superman drop them at Gotham,” Duela commented. “There doesn’t seem to be any threats out here. You’re all preparing to fight another hypothetical invasion, but your best training exercise was us. Our parents, I mean.”

No one was quite sure how to answer.


	18. Chapter 18

Ganymede knew that she couldn’t get too comfortable in Nova Urbia. No doubt, the other idiots would do something that would make Superman kick them out. If not Superman then Batman, and now she knew that even if Superman was the official leader of the Justice League, no one ever went against the Bat’s orders. She had to admit, though, she liked it there. Nova Urbia was so sunny and it didn’t have fights at every corner. And she could use her magic completely with no restrictions. Circe talked about turning people into animals to control them, but Ganymede couldn’t find the fun in that. Or the use.

She had magic.

She could make appear a bear if she wanted to without using a poor man for it. Zatanna had shown her how, and she even agreed to teach her her own tricks. Shazam also showed her how to control electricity but that kind of hurt and needed a lot more energy. Constantine explained that it was because she was more of an illusionist, capable of invoking the things she wanted from her own energy, rather than control the things outside.

She thought about how she used her magic at Gotham, changing her physical appearance was the main, most exhausting thing she’d ever done. She knew the border had something to do with it, no magic-user was capable of charging a lot of energy, so the border ate some of it in order to avoid an attempt at breaking it. Magic was the only weakness of magic it seemed. Even Superman was vulnerable to it. That was the reason the magic users practiced in Wonderland, an underground gigantic compound where no one could get hurt. The only access needed magic to open.

That’s where she was, about to enter Wonderland to continue her practice with Doctor Fate, when a group of people crashed through the ceiling. She sighed. She didn’t need magic to know who they were.

“Hey G!” The irritable voice of Jester called. The clown was under Duela, grinning at the magician. “Long time no see! How’re you liking Nova Urbia so far?”

Jason stood up first and helped Duela. Axel rolled to his stomach and groaned. Jester stayed sprawled on the ground where she fell.

“It’s good,” Ganymede answered, eyeing the other kids. “What are you doing here?”

Duela shrugged.

“Wonder Woman was looking for us,” she explained. “I think she was angry because _someone_ ,” she eyed Jester, “put a sample of fear toxin in Megan’s cookies.”

“You what,” Ganymede turned to Jester, fuming. The clown didn’t look sorry at all. Ganymede breathed. She knew something like this would happen sooner or later. But she hoped that it at least had a purpose, not that it was a simple prank from the idiotic clown.

“Relax, Nova Urbia is still standing,” Jester said. “If I wanted I could’ve given it to Jon and the superkid would’ve destroyed the Hall.”

“It does not affect them if you don’t mix it with green K,” Axel mumbled, frowning at Jester.

“So all good,” Jester shrugged. “B has all the green K.”

Ganymede facepalmed and sighed. She couldn’t understand what she did to be part of them. She could probably stay in Nova Urbia working alongside the Magic-users. She actually preferred it to Gotham, where she had to be alert all the fucking time. If Circe didn’t get bored of her, someone else would try to hurt her or drain her magic. It’d happened, once, that’s how she met Circe.

“Well, if you’re only hiding I’ll leave you to it,” she said turning to the hidden entrance. “Don’t follow or I’ll turn you to toads.”

Jester chuckled and murmured “toads”. What a surprise. She rolled her eyes and raised her hand ready to open the door, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her. She turned and found Jason.

“We need to talk,” he said, solemnly. “And we need a place where no one can hear us or see us.”

Ganymede frowned. She didn’t like the look on the other teen. That only meant problems.

“All right,” she groaned, thinking on the trick Raven showed her a day before. “Hold on tight.”

She moved her hands in a circular motion and a bright light swallowed them all. When the light disappeared, they were in an abandoned park. They could see the big globe of the former Daily Planet above the trees.

“Why are we in Metropolis?” Duela asked, looking around. “The supers can still hear us, you know.”

“Not really,” Ganymede shrugged. “Brainiac attacked here first because of Superman. You could say this was his big failure. I don’t think they listen that far from Nova Urbia. Besides,” she waved her hand over them and they felt something warm run in their insides. “Now we’re soundproof. We can only hear each other as long as we stay together.”

“Garfield said Raven could take them to another dimension,” Axel said, curious eyes fixed on Ganymede. “Can you?”

The magician shook her head.

“I’ll be able to enter Fate’s tower, but I don’t have permission yet,” she explained. “From there it’d be easier to create portals to another universe but only Raven can do that with her own energy because of her interdimensional-demon half.”

“Cool,” Axel whispered.

Jason stepped forward getting all their attention.

“We need to talk about Luthor’s plan,” he stated. “Now, thanks to Jester there is a possibility the program will close and they’ll send us back to Gotham. If we’re gonna do it, we gotta do it now.”

Jester smirked.

“You don’t sound so happy about returning home,” she taunted. “Besides, I only came to cause trouble, I won’t do what Luthor wants. Conner found his family here, he can stay if he wants to.”

“You really don’t want to?” Duela asked, studying closely Jester’s expression. Something hard since the clown was wearing her domino that day. “Stay here, I mean.”

“My family is in Gotham,” Jester declared. “And Luthor is a bald sad man that wants to prove he’s the worst when we all know he isn’t. Joker doesn’t care about destroying Nova Urbia, he thinks Gotham is way funnier even if Bats stopped chasing him around.”

“I liked it here,” Axel muttered, looking down with sad eyes. “I’m sure dad wouldn’t mind me staying. And Conner is my friend, and Jon’s brother slash uncle, so I won’t help.”

Jason sighed, running a hand through his face.

“I won’t help either,” Duela said, hugging Axel closed to her. “I finally have real friends that don’t try to hurt me or shoot me,” she eyed the others. “Dad wants me locked up in the Court because I’m safe there, but I’m safe here too. I’ll just need some luck with his coin.”

Ganymede crossed her arms and turned to Jason.

“It seems you’re alone in this,” she said. “And I’m pretty sure you’ll follow Luthor’s plan only because Black Mask is planning on betraying him.”

Jason rolled his eyes.

“So what,” he scoffed. “Just like Jester wants to go back to the freak show, I know my family is the False Face Society,” he said, frowning and ignoring the small voice at the back of his mind asking if he was sure he wanted to go back. “We left Gotham, but we’ll be back there when the heroes get angry at us. They don’t even like us!”

They looked down. It was true that most of the heroes avoided them at all costs. Only the ones labeled as troublemakers or innocent and naive looked for them to play or hang out. Megan, for example, who was teaching Jason how to use an oven at night, or Jon who flew around with Axel pranking everyone, and Bart who also tagged along with Axel and Jon if he was bored, and dragged Garfield with him. Nobody trusted them to be simple kids living and learning in the Hall like everyone else. They were always waiting, defensive, watching them for any trouble.

Ganymede winced. If she was honest, she imagined that Jester was only acting as they expected them to when she used the fear toxin. Like proving what she was capable of if she wanted to cause real trouble. She understood it, kind of. Jester had the worst origin story, and she was picked up by the worst family ever. She was emotional and impulsive and reckless. If Ganymede had to bet, she was sure the clown wanted to stay in Nova Urbia too, but she also wanted to go back to “normal”, where she could blow things up and wreak havoc because that’s what she learned. She didn’t know how to be “normal” as in good.

“Who did you give the toxin to?” She wondered, turning to her but Jester avoided her glance and kept her mouth shut.

“Stephanie Brown,” Duela growled. “Cass’ friend. She doesn’t like us, just like Todd said.”

Oh. Duela was hurt by the Hood’s words. Considering she had only said she finally had a real friend, she’d be offended by him saying no one liked them, her. And she’d be rightfully angry at Jester for harming her friend’s friend, even if said friend treated them like bad guys.

“Did she deserve it?” She asked.

Duela groaned and threw her arms over her head. Axel snickered like the child he was. Jason huffed but didn’t say anything. Jester shrugged.

Ganymede hummed.

“I also want to stay,” she told Axel, softly. “However, I don’t know if they will ever see us as anything other than villains. They fear us because they fear our mentors and they believe we are like them. I won’t say anything about Luthor’s plan, Jason, about your plan. But I hope that you have thought it through. Our… _parents_ won’t be able to punish us across the Dark Border, think about it too.”

Jason nodded keeping eye contact, and from the corner of her eye, Ganymede saw Jester looked away with a troubled expression. Axel and Duela agreed to not say anything about the plan either, in case Jason wanted to do it. They were together in this after all. If they threw one out, for sure they’ll throw everyone out.

“What about you,” Jason asked Jester.

“What,” she said. “I know nothing about your stupid plan. And if I did no one would listen. Don’t worry. One of the perks of being a liar murdering clown,” she took a deep breath and turned to Ganymede. “Are we done here? I wanna explore some more if this is my last day in the Hall.”

Even if Ganymede doubted Wonder Woman would simply throw her out after the fear toxin, she nodded, hoping that the lost girl wouldn’t get herself in even more trouble. She wouldn’t want her to be locked up in some secret dungeon for knowing too much. Even if they didn’t like each other.

“I have ballet with Cass,” Duela smiled, but this time her smile didn’t reach her eyes.

Axel looked from one teen to another, sensing the heavy atmosphere but deciding against commenting on it. Ganymede nodded and raised her arms again, taking them back to the Hall’s grounds. There, each one took a different direction. Everyone trying to make the most of their last hours at Nova Urbia.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***READ BEFORE CHAPTER***  
> *this chapter includes implied underage rape and torture. mental breakdown*  
> you've been warned

It was the middle of the night and the Hall was practically deserted. Jester hummed to herself a lullaby as she made her way to the computer lab. The guard that day was Booster Gold, and he was currently talking to his android friend on the other side of the Hall. If Jester was lucky, he’ll find Jason and Meghan in the kitchen and stayed with them to taste their cooking experiments.

Meanwhile, she went to the lab and sat in front of the big main screen at one of the walls. So far, only the Batkids, Cyborg, and Blue Bettle were capable of using it since you needed to bypass its security or know the password. However, she did pay attention in classes even if she didn’t appear to do it, and so far Batman’s classes on hacking were easier than Black Lighting’s physics course.

All right Batman’s course was on _computer science,_ not hacking per se. But it was less boring if she thought of it that way. At least he wasn’t teaching _business_.

She huffed at her own internal monologue and turned on the CPU. Then she turned to the monitor and the holographic keyboard that appeared in front. She rolled her shoulders, stretched her arms, and cracked her knuckles, then started typing. She was able to get into the system and gain access to the computer in more or less forty seconds, so she gave herself a mental pat on the back.

She resumed her humming and took a chip out of her glove, then introduced it to the lector. She hoped Black Mask hadn’t had time to put any virus in there, but, as far as she knew, he hadn’t been able to decode it before she stole it. She could’ve broken it or even threw it to the sewer, but now she was kind of curious why Sionis had wanted it so badly.

If she was honest she had forgotten about it until she found it that evening in her dorm, when she started packing her things. So far, Wonder Woman hadn’t said anything about taking her back to Gotham, but she was sure it was a matter of time, so she accepted that she’ll go back and had been skipping classes and training since the day of the fear toxin.

Jester didn’t know if she was really good at avoiding every one or if they just didn’t care about her. Joker would look for her if she was gone more than her usual with no reports. He’d tear Gotham apart if he thought someone had done something to her or Harley. Here, she felt lonely, forgotten… bored. She missed being able to run around Gotham without rules or truces. She didn’t care if the others liked it more than the island, she felt more trapped than she ever did inside the Dark Border.

She felt like she couldn’t do anything without someone spying, judging, and distrusting. In Gotham, she had her dad’s pride, her mom’s praises. Distrust was fun and good, not uncomfortable and irritating. Fear was perfect, and survival had her going.

“And if that bomb does not explode,” she sang softly, decoding the chips’ security. She scratched absentmindedly over her forearm and hissed when she felt the sting of a new cut. “Mama’s gonna give you the sharpest knife,” she finished the lullaby and rolled her sleeve. Luckily she didn’t reopen the wound, but it was still red and angry and she felt tears gather in her eyes. “And if that knife don’t hit its goal,” she whimpered, rubbed the tears away, straightened the sleeve and turned back to the screen. “Mama’s gonna give you gasoline to burn.”

The chip had only one folder titled “09-GMerch”, and when she opened it she gasped. It was no secret that Gotham had a lot of problems with criminal activity way before Batman appeared and Brainiac attacked, including drugs, illegal weapons, the mob, prostitution (including forced and underaged) and of course, human trafficking. The folder had a few documents detailing the divestment and purchase of some subjects, others had pictures of children and information about their families, addresses, schedules, and prices. Little girls and little boys from Gotham taken and sold away from home; lost and paid for in a strange city full of clowns and bats and scarecrows.

Jester could feel her mind trying to open a box of memories she had long locked up and forgotten. She could feel them sneaking up to her even when she was consciously trying very hard to ignore them and forget them.

Tears were running down her face now, and she sobbed, covering her mouth with her hand when she found the file on her.

She only saw her picture before closing her eyes forcefully. She knew how she used to look like. She knew it was her. Way younger, four years old with a real innocent smile. Taken by someone she had long forgotten. Stolen from that someone’s Facebook account.

That little girl was long gone.

She didn’t remember her name.

She didn’t even know where she was from, only that she didn’t understand a word the Master told her when she was dropped at his doorstep.

She shook her head, placing both hands over her head, covering from an invisible threat.

She could remember sun and sea and sand and happiness.

She could see a loving smile and warm eyes and hear a soft voice calling for her.

She covered her eyes with two fists until she saw little lights under her eyelids.

She remembered gray cold eyes that wanted to see her cry.

Dark rooms and restraints and toys and pain.

She blocked it all.

She didn’t want to remember.

She didn’t want to be _her_.

“And if you feel like you can’t anymore,” she sobbed and fell from the chair, then she curled up under the desk. If she didn’t read it, she wouldn’t have to know. She could still be Jester. She was Jester. She didn’t need to know who that kid was. “Mama’s gonna burn the whole damn world.”

“Jen!” Someone yelled from the door, and she could hear fast footsteps approaching.

“And if you want to stay home for the night,” she croaked, ignoring whoever was calling her.

“Oh my god,” an older voice said. “What’s going on?”

“Jen, you’re fine, c’mon, look at me,” the young voice said frantically, trying to peel her hands from her eyes.

“She’s hurting!” A girl exclaimed, she sounded as pained as Jester felt. “Her mind- I- I can’t!”

“You’ll still be the more dangerous of all,” Jester finished with a broken voice.

Then she blacked out.


	20. Chapter 20

Jason glared at the ground and clenched his fists at his sides. He could see Duela fidgeting at the back of the room where she stood with Garfield trying to comfort Meghan. Michael and he were in the front, with the Trinity chastising the older hero and J’on scanning Jester’s head where she was unconscious over a table.

Booster Gold tried to defend himself, but even Jason knew he was in trouble because instead of guarding the dorm rooms, where three dangerous villains slept (four if you counted Axel, but the kid was having a sleepover at the Kent’s that night), he had been playing with Meghan and him in the kitchen.

They were adding brown sugar to their dough mixture when the Martian had yelp and rubbed her head. It took her a few seconds to understand what she was feeling because she didn’t know Jester’s mind and the girl’s subconscious was asking for help, although, from how Meghan described it, Jester was _crying_ and _begging_.

Jason didn’t believe her until they found her curled up under the main monitor in the computer lab. That was when Booster Gold panicked and called Superman, who apparently was having his own sleepover with Batman because the two heroes arrived together seconds before Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter appeared.

Diana huffed, rolled her eyes and left the men to their own devices while she went and checked on Meghan. The poor Martian was still crying silently after peeking at Jester’s mind. Jason couldn’t blame her, he had known before that the girl had problems, living with Joker and Harley at Amusement Mile and leading her own small army in the destruction of part of Gotham. However, he didn’t really know her, he only knew what she was, or what she wanted others to believe. After they laid her over the table, he was the one who looked around hoping to understand what triggered her panic attack, and he saw the monitor and the files. _Her_ file.

He wished he hadn’t read it though.

“She seems to be stable,” J’on called from beside Jester. “I recommend taking her to the Med Bay to monitor her neural activity and prevent another attack,” he eyed the teens and adults in the room, not sure if all of them needed to know something.

“What is it?” Batman asked because of course, Bruce noticed.

“There’s something you should see,” he motioned to him to get closer.

Superman raised an eyebrow and Jason fidgeted in place. They saw how J’on rolled Jester’s sleeve and showed Batman her arm. Superman gasped and floated to them, and Jason frowned and tried to look, but Batman covered her arm with her sleeve again and stood between her and the rest, using his cape as a kind of shield.

“What,” Jason demanded. “She’s our friend, we deserve to know if something’s wrong!”

Duela was biting her lip and Meghan was tearing up in Diana’s arm while Garfield looked out of place. Even Booster Gold had curiosity written all over his face, but he wouldn’t demand answers from any of the trinity, least of all Batman.

“If Jester hasn’t told you anything then I don’t see how it is any of your business,” Batman growled.

“But is yours?” Jason almost yelled.

Superman landed and walked towards Jason with an open and soft expression.

“Hey, we only want her to get better,” he explained while trying to calm the teenager. “It wasn’t our business, it isn’t, but this is serious, Jason. When she wakes up you can come to see her and ask her about the attack and whatever else you want. Then it’ll be her decision if she wants to share.”

Jason huffed and crossed his arms.

“What about Meghan?” Duela asked. “She was inside Jester’s head, I don’t think that’ll be nice.”

“Don’t worry about my niece, Miss Dent,” J’on answered. “All psychics know the dangers of our power and we have different methods to deal with this kind of accident. She’ll come with me tonight and we’ll sort everything out.”

“You have to understand that J’on, Meghan, Raven, and even Aquaman are susceptible to other’s emotions and thoughts,” Diana explained carding her fingers through red hair. “They have to learn how to control their own minds to shield the rest of us. Martians are powerful telepaths and they basically communicate with their minds so its harder for them to close themselves from others, and sometimes emotions get out of control and are so strong,” she looked at Jester’s limp form, “that we can invade their minds and turn them into an extension of ours.”

“She was so scared,” Meghan murmured.

Jason looked back at Jester. He had never seen her so… still. And he had only ever seen Batman protective of his adoptive children and Damian (and sometimes of Superman).

“Go back to bed,” Batman ordered. “You still have training and classes tomorrow.”

Duela was the first to walk out, and Jason noticed her looking at the monitor on her way out. Then Garfield and J’on who had changed places with Diana and was now comforting his niece. Superman took Jester in his arms and flew out towards the Med Bay. Bruce and Diana were looking at him with worried eyes (or as worried as Batman could show).

“I’m fine,” he spat. “I’m not the one with a sob story,” he glared at the monitor where a four-year-old Jester was smiling with the innocence of a happy child. It was so weird seeing her like that, without the crazy gleam and the face-paint. “What is that doing in your database, anyway?”

“That isn’t mine,” Bruce said, walking to the computer. “It looks like an old case of human trafficking in Gotham, my Gotham, but I never saw these files.”

He scrolled down Jester’s information (or should he start thinking of her as Mariel?) and went back to the main folder to scan the rest of the documents, then he closed it all and removed a familiar-looking chip from the CPU.

“That’s Roman’s,” Jason observed and Diana looked between him and Batman. “He had been trying to decode it, but when he couldn’t he sent it to one of his safe houses to his minions. Jester stole it from them and I tried to stop her but… well, honestly I had forgotten about it.”

Diana stepped in front of him and placed both her hands over his shoulders.

“Take a deep breath,” she ordered and Jason did as told. “You had nothing to do with this, her past is her past and we can’t do anything to change it.”

“If I had gotten it back, she wouldn’t have had it,” Jason uttered, closing his eyes firmly.

Diana smiled sadly at him. Behind them, Batman was eyeing Jason with a frown on his face.

“How can you believe that?” He said, and Diana sent him a glare that he ignored. “Things like these cannot be hidden. She would’ve found out sooner rather than later, at least she was here when it happened,” Jason blinked up at him, and for the first time, Bruce was very aware he was talking to a sixteen-year-old and not a crime lord. “Here we can take care of her, no one will try to hurt her. I can’t say the same about Gotham.”

“I would’ve kept her safe,” Jason uttered. “I wouldn’t’ve allowed Roman do her any harm. At least until Joker or Harley took her back to the Mile. They may be crazy but they really love her.”

“I doubt it,” Bruce muttered under his breath but Diana talked over him, gaining Jason’s attention.

“And that would have been very brave of you,” she told him, looking him in the eye. “But here you don’t have to worry too much about her. I promise I’ll find you the moment she wakes up-”

“Canary,” Bruce interrupted.

“The moment she finishes talking to Dinah,” Diana rectified, and Jason accepted. Diana smiled warmly at him and shooed him to the door. “Go to bed, Jay.”

Jason looked at the chip one last time before leaving. He couldn’t help but wonder why Black Mask had wanted it so bad. Did he know what was inside it? Did he want to use it against the Joker? Everyone in Gotham knew Harley and Jester were weak points to the clown prince of crime. However, everyone also knew they could only mess with them if they wanted a slow, painful and torturous death. Besides, they’d have to get near them, to begin with, and it was almost as hard as it was to avoid crime inside the Dark Border.

Maybe they were all better on this side. Maybe they wouldn’t have to go back, ever.

He sighed when he reached his room and closed his door, letting his weight fall against the door.

“Fuck,” he whispered at his ceiling. “What should I do?”

He closed his eyes, still seeing the small happy girl smiling at them from the monitor.


	21. Chapter 21

Dinah entered the Med Bay and found a crew of teenagers gathered around her target. She sighed. She was supposed to be the only one who knew the girl had woken up.

“What are you doing here,” she asked, but honestly she couldn’t blame them. It showed how well they liked her that they apparently intercepted Bruce’s message. She looked at Tim, and the boy smiled sheepishly.

“Don’t tell Bruce?” He said shrugging. It was pretty obvious that he didn’t regret it.

Dinah sighed and turned to Jester who was pointedly avoiding looking her way. She was doodling on a notepad and whispering to herself, but Kyle was watching as the pencil created patterns on the paper and was nodding to whatever she was saying.

Conner and Tim were glancing at each other, then at the boy standing at the feet of the bed, who was also avoiding looking at Dinah, keeping his eyes on Jester. Jason’s gaze was jumping from the bandages on her arms to Kyle with an almost unnoticeable frown.

Dinah cleared her throat, catching most of the teen’s attention.

“I need to speak with Jester,” she said. “Alone,” she added pointedly when Jason looked like he was ready to become a statue.

Conner and Tim walked out without much fuss, telling Jester to “get better” and that they’ll “come around later and bring some of Meghan’s cookies”. Jason clenched his fists at his sides, took a deep breath and nodded to Dinah once before walking to the door. He stopped, however, when he noticed Kyle was still perched beside Jester.

The young lantern looked conflicted between leaving a clearly upset friend and following a Leaguer’s order. In the end, Jason’s pointed cough was what made him stand up and follow the other teen outside.

Jester watched from the corner of her eyes as they left, then turned back to the notepad and continued ignoring Dinah’s presence.

“How are you feeling?” Dinah asked in a soft voice that still made the teen jumped a little.

Jester shrugged.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” She continued. According to J’on, Jester would try to lock her trauma deep in her mind again to the point of not remembering. That could be dangerous in the sense that she could forget everything about herself, including her time with the Joker and in Nova Urbia.

“Why,” Jester croaked. “They told you.”

Dinah hummed.

“What about your arms?” She motioned to the bandages. Jester didn’t answer. “May I sit with you for a few minutes?” Canary ended up saying. “In case you want to talk.”

The girl shrugged again and continued doodling.

Dinah took a chair and placed it beside the girl, then looked down at the doodles. They didn’t have much sense, but Dinah could make out a kind of whip, a clown, and the batmobile. Each one was drawn over the other, losing form when Jester added a kind of ball, a harlequin hat, something resembling a dog, and other figures.

“Dad found me,” Jester mumbled so suddenly Dinah had to take a second to register the words.

“Joker?” She clarified.

“He found me,” Jester nodded. “He rescued me. Killed all the men and women. Took me to the Mile. I didn’t remember that. It was very gory.”

Dinah frowned. She had thought the Joker was the reason she repressed her past, but it sounded like he was the reason she came out of her mind.

“Do you like living with him and Harley?” She asked instead.

Jester nodded again.

“They helped me and let me stay,” she explained in a small voice. “They taught me how to defend myself. I was very happy.”

“Did they- Did Joker ever told you where or how he found you?” Dinah frowned.

“I didn’t ask,” Jester shook her head, and her voice broke a little. “I knew I didn’t want to know,” a single tear rolled down her face before she could whip it away. “Now I know why I didn’t.”

Dinah pursed her lips. Jester was way more perceptive than what they had thought when they heard she was adopted by the clown.

“I wish I knew how to forget it all again,” she whispered, and Dinah had to strain her ears to understand. “I don’t remember how I did it the first time,” she turned teary eyes to Dinah. “If I could do it before, I can do it again can’t I?”

“It wouldn’t be the best way of dealing with it,” Dinah tried.

“I just want to go back,” Jester whimpered and looked down again.

“Back where?” Dinah asked. “Back to Gotham? To how things were before you found out? Before coming to Nova Urbia?” She paused, she was sure her next words would hurt the girl, but she had to make her think, to not go running back to Gotham, to Joker. “Or before being taken?”

The pencil broke. Jester stared at it as if she didn't understand what happened to it.

“Wouldn’t you like to be Mariel again?” Dinah pressed. “Find out what you’re capable of like her and not Jennifer or Jester.”

Jester closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her mind was complete disarray. Her head hurt. Her body felt numb. But if she was sure about something…

“Mariel is dead,” she growled, turning glaring eyes to a surprised Dinah. “I don’t want to be her. I know who I am! I just want to forget!”

Why couldn’t they understand that? She liked being Jester. She _was_ Jester. They only wanted her to turn her back to her family and stay here. To help them in case aliens came back. To be a goodie two shoes just like the rest of them. They didn’t understand she had a family. A home. Amusement Mile was way funnier than Nova Urbia.

She had to go back.

If she went back, everything would be alright.

Before Dinah could do anything, Jester jumped out of the bed and escaped the room. Dinah ran after her but she couldn’t see her or hear her once outside.

“Jester!”

Shit. Maybe they shouldn’t have trained her so well.


	22. Chapter 22

Jason had given it much thought. Instead of going to classes and training, he ended up at the rooftop. It was empty, he could see the whole garden from there, with most of the heroes and league members walking from and to the training areas. Batman was one of them. The man was currently surrounded by his kids, and it was kind of strange for him to look so… human.

Jason could remember his parents before Two-Face killed his dad and his mom overdosed. It was true that his dad wasn’t the best dad he could’ve had, but at least he kept him, gave him a roof over his head and got food for them, even if sometimes his drunk ass got violent. His mom and he had learned to anticipate and avoid Willis when he was drinking.

His mom, on the contrary, tried to give him a normal childhood. As normal as it could be in the Narrows. She sang to him, cuddle him, fed him, warmed him. He missed her the most. She tried to hide her addiction, and she succeeded until Dent dumped her husband’s body in her doorstep.

Jason found them both. His mom was still alive when he called the GCPD, but she didn’t make it. He even thought he saw Batman that night just before they took him to a foster home. Later, when he heard that Two-Face was back in Arkham he wondered if he hadn’t imagined the Bat and he was there following the former attorney.

He sighed and watched as Dick hugged Bruce and Damian before running away. He couldn’t see their faces from the distance but he could imagine Damian’s frown as he growled at Dick and Bruce’s amused smirk. Cas would be smiling at Bruce that secret smile she used a lot when she knew something others didn’t. Even Stephanie was there, talking about something that made Damian turned his glare to her, so Jason guessed she was messing with the kid. Tim got Bruce’s attention with something on his phone.

They looked like family.

It was so weird to think of _the_ Batman as a family guy. A dad. And yet, that was what he was.

Everyone in the league had a family. But for some reason, it wasn’t as hard to picture Hal Jordan taking in a kid and teaching him how to use the ring. Or Barry Allen running around after his twins and nephew and future-grandson. Or Oliver Queen following Bruce’s example and adopting a bunch of orphans to train and give them a home.

Even Superman had kids! And he seemed happy playing dad when one was his enemy’s son, another was his cousin, and the newest one was his clon. He treated them all just like he treated Jon.

Just like Batman treated his kids.

Like his mom used to treat him.

Like Roman pretended to care.

Jason had never corrected Jester when she called Roman his dad, but they were more like boss-apprentice than father-son. It wasn’t very different from his real dad, except Roman didn’t like getting his hands dirty, if he wanted Jason punished for something, he simply locked him up or got Black Spider to “train” with him, which commonly translated to his second in command giving the kid a lesson or two.

At least he was old enough and capable enough to defend himself. And if Roman thought he was getting better at fighting, he’ll look proud and forget about the punishment.

He wondered where he would be if Roman hadn’t taken him when he escaped the foster home.

Superman appeared so suddenly, everyone’s capes flew up and Jason’s thought process stopped.

He could sense something was wrong.

And when Batman turned his attention to the top of the Hall, to him, he could see it in their faces.

He hadn’t even thought about running when he felt his feet moving towards the stairs.

He had to find Meghan.

He had to before they kicked him back to Gotham.


	23. Chapter 23

Ganymede was fuming.

That little shit.

Jester not only got access to their training area but she stole one of Raven’s charged crystals and broke half their dorm in the process.

They knew it was her because, following the freaks’ example, she painted a smiley face on their mirror and signed it with her name.

“Do you want to tell me how she got in?” Zatanna asked.

Because of course, the fucking clown does something and the rest of Gotham’s kids had to have helped her, right? They’re as much of a team as the heroes are with each other.

“I don’t know how she did it,” Ganymede hissed.

Zatanna hummed.

“So, do you think someone from inside Wonderland helped her?” She mused out loud, watching the younger magician closely. “Or do you think she has the power and knowledge to enter on her own?”

Ganymede shrugged.

“If you’re implying I helped her,” Ganymede began. “I don’t even like her, we can’t stand each other. And I don’t think anyone here can forget where we are from and decide to help,” she added the last part with a pointed look, daring the older woman to contradict her.

Zatanna sighed.

“Bruce wants to talk with you and the others,” she said and turned around to walk away.

Raven, who had been watching the exchange from her mostly untouched bed, blinked at her.

“Sorry for your gem,” Ganymede groaned, waving her hand to gather her things.

Raven frowned at the older’s movements and stared for a moment at the suitcase getting fuller.

“Where are you going?” She asked.

Ganymede sighed sadly.

“You heard her, Bruce wants to meet with all of us,” Ganymede mumbled. “After the freak put that fear toxin stunt and now this,” she trailed off. “I don’t think I’ll be coming back.”

“But you did nothing wrong,” Raven said tilting her head. “And Garfield told me about Jester’s panic attack. Maybe she just wants to go home. I can’t blame her.”

At that, Ganymede left her things and turned to the younger girl.

“You can’t?”

“When I first got here I felt out of place,” Raven explained. “I miss Azarath and sometimes I even miss my father’s hellish realm,” Raven looked at the painted mirror and her eyes flashed red. “If I’m being honest, sometimes I go visit,” she whispered. “Both realms, as destroyed as they are, are part of me and were my home once. Even my father welcomed me and taught me how to use my magic when he could simply have stolen it to open the portals himself.”

“But you decided to be a hero,” Ganymede said. “Jester won’t abandon Joker even if she’s allowed to visit.”

“Perhaps,” Raven winced. “I can’t say I don’t enjoy having my father with me the whole time.”

Ganymede stared at the gem on the girl’s forehead.

She knew about Trigon, and she got to know Raven in her time there. Sometimes the purple-haired girl looked annoyed, and somedays she even talked to herself, to the gem, arguing, smiling, whispering about her day and the other heroes. Ganymede couldn’t help but wonder what Trigon had to say about his daughter being part of the better world. She wondered if he was angry at Raven, or proud of her for becoming day after day better with magic…

In the end, everything in Nova Urbia was about family.

What would Circe think about that? She only took Ganymede in because she didn’t want a simple man stealing the magic. She tried to use it herself to destroy the Dark Border and decided to train Ganymede with only that purpose.

She wasn’t a mother. Not even a mentor. She was… an instructor.

“I don’t think B will make you leave if any of you want to,” Raven claimed, then closed her eyes and floated in a meditating position. Before Ganymede left the room, she heard her whisper: “I know, dad. I like them too.”

Ganymede didn’t want to go back. She wanted to stay and work on her magic just like Zatanna and Raven and Constantine. She wanted to stay and be her own person. If she went back to Gotham she’ll have to stay in Circe’s woods again, being the witch’s shadow and trying to gather enough energy to open the Border.

If she went back to Gotham she would be going back to prison.

In Nova Urbia her magic could breathe freely. She felt it when they got out of the Border the first time. It was like she was inside a small room where she could only run a few steps before reaching a wall, and suddenly she was in an open field with no limits. She felt just how very powerful she really was.

She didn’t want to go back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry :B  
> we are almost done though  
> I promise to finish updating this week


	24. Chapter 24

Jason went to the computer lab to hide while Batman talked to the others. He was sure they’d look for him, and he imagined Jester had exactly the same idea when she had her breakdown. That she needed answers before going back.

He didn’t know what he was looking for, something to end Dent, probably. Or maybe he simply wanted to know why they killed his dad. If someone had details about it it would be Batman.

“Aw, c’mon,” he groaned. He had expected it to be on and open since people were usually using the lab at that hour, but it seems that no one wanted to use the lab after hearing what happened there. “It wasn’t a fucking ghost, I’ve no time for this.”

Jason grumbled on his way to the monitor and CPU. He knew how to hack and break through the codes just like Jester and everyone who paid Bruce attention in class, but he had hoped to be in and out as quick as possible.

He didn’t know how much it took Jester or Tim or Victor to break through, but he guessed two minutes wasn’t that bad. Then he used one of Tim’s tricks and went right into the mainframe, looking for the Batcave’s inner files. He found them easily, but he was so engrossed in his task that he didn’t hear when someone else stepped inside the room.

“What are you looking for?” Batman growled behind him, making him jump.

“Shit, make some noise, will ya’?” Jason turned to the Bat, who only raised an eyebrow.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, then Jason lowered his gaze and fumbled with his hands. Bruce took off the cowl and walked to the monitor, reading what was on the screen.

“So it’s true,” Bruce commented, Jason looked at him with a confused expression. “Willis Todd was your father.”

Jason tilted his head.

“Yeah, so?” He answered. “I thought you had our files. You weren’t sure?”

“I had just one single doubt in the back of my mind,” Bruce crossed his arms and opened the folder with the five children’s files. “Why are you working with Black Mask?”

It was Jason’s turn to raise his eyebrows.

“What does it have to do with anything?” He asked.

Bruce hummed, typed something on the keyboard, and without looking at Jason he asked:

“Do you know how your dad died?”

Jason frowned.

“Of course I know! Fucking Dent killed him,” he growled. “When Sionis found me he promised we’ll kill Two-Face and his whole organization, but then we were all stuck in Gotham and Two-Face rarely leaves the Court.”

“How old were you?” Bruce asked. “Your dad died before Brainiac didn’t he?”

“I was nine when he was murdered,” Jason growled, knowing very well that Bruce knew that already. It should be in Jason’s file. “Sionis found me when I was twelve, _during_ Brainiac.”

“And have you killed anyone?” Bruce asked suddenly.

Jason looked away.

“No,” he muttered. “Not outright, anyway,” Bruce stayed silent, waiting for the teen to explain. Jason sighed. “I’ve never saved anyone, and I sure inflicted some lethal wounds and abandoned whoever I hit to their luck.”

Bruce hummed again.

Jason scowled at him.

“Just tell me what you came here to,” Jason snarled. “I guess I have a ride back to Gotham.”

Bruce tilted his head in apparent confusion.

“You want to go back?”

Jason’s scowl deepened.

“I don’t have a choice, do I?”

Bruce uncrossed his arms and went to grab a chair from another desk to drag it to Jason. He sat on the one he used at the main monitor and pointed to the other one to Jason.

“Sit,” he ordered. Jason looked like wanted to protest, then he glanced at the screen, at the door, at Bruce, and sat down. “I want to show you something.”

Bruce opened a file on the screen for Jason to read while he explained.

“Seven years ago I was following a lead on Two-Face about stolen weapons,” Bruce explained. “That case was closed, but I found a connection between some of his men and the False Face Society,” Bruce was watching Jason’s face closely. “Apparently, Two-Face had a mole in his Court, this man would tell the False Face Society everything he knew about the Court for them to take it down, but, one day, Two-Face discovered the traitor.”

Jason didn’t look away from the screen.

“It was one of Harvey Dent’s days rather than Two-Face’s, so he didn’t kill him, but they agreed that the spy would abandon the False Face Society and work for him instead, spying on Black Mask while he thought the man was spying on Two-Face,” Bruce glanced at the screen, Jason was almost done reading. “Black Mask found out, I found the other mole that would make sure Todd was doing his job,” Jason turned to him when his last name was mentioned. “Sionis doesn’t trust anyone, so he had spies spying on his spies,” Bruce sighed. “He killed your father and made it look like Dent did it. When that didn’t help in taking down the whole Court, I guess he found you and thought he could convince you to help him.”

“But- Why all that trouble?” Jason asked, thinking on the night he met Roman. “He could’ve asked any kid who had an active Meta-gene.”

Bruce shrugged.

“My only guess is that he felt like he lost something when he killed your dad,” he said. “He’s obsessive, and you look exactly like Willis. He wanted you to be his, to take the place of your dad in his Society.”

Jason looked at the screen.

“I guess he is a bit obsessive about owning things,” Jason mused out loud. “It’s been always about owning the East End, isn’t it?”

“It was,” Bruce sighed. “Now it’s the whole of Gotham.”

Jason clenched his fists.

“He lied to me,” he hissed. “I was so sure it was Dent because I knew my dad was working for him. Because everyone knows you have half the chances to die at his pistol as you have to survive his angry tantrums,” he closed his eyes to hide angry tears. “He’s been lying to me just to have me do his dirty work.”

“Jason-

“Willis wasn’t perfect but he was my dad,” Jason sobbed and opened his eyes in surprise at his own sobbing. He looked away from Bruce. He didn’t want _Batman_ to see him like that. “I’ve been helping my father’s murderer this whole time.”

To his utter surprise, Bruce hugged him to his chest.

“Now you know,” he told the younger boy. “I’ve been watching the five of you. In the beginning, I wasn’t sure about the program, but now I know it was right to open a space for children like you. You love to cook with Meghan and spent time with Roy. You take care of Axel like Dick takes care of Damian, and Jon adores you because you tell him stories. You’re a good kid, Jason, a little violent, but good,” Bruce looked at dark teary eyes. “Besides, I remember to have broken some bones and probably caused brain damage to some of Blackgate’s inmates when I fought them.”

Jason smirked.

“I used to try to mimic your fighting style when someone was lucky enough to take a video,” Jason whispered tiredly. “It was very hard since you aren’t visible in any of them, but it was fun to scare the other kids at the foster home.”

Bruce snorted.

“No one will make you go back, just like no one will oblige Jester to come back,” Bruce promised. “Each one of you is free to do whatever you feel is right. To do what makes you comfortable.”

“Now I know adopting a bunch of orphans did make you soft,” Jason teased pushing out of Bruce’s embrace. “I have something to confess then,” he looked at Bruce’s eyes. “I was supposed to activate Conner and make him go nuts,” he explained. “Meghan tried to clean the program from his head but she said we’ll have to ask her uncle since he has more experience. Luthor didn’t plan to send him to the program in the future, he used Jester to activate him the first time, and we were to convince other Metas to join us, open the Dark Border and order Conner to destroy.”

Bruce smirked.

“I know,” he said. “Duela, Axel, and Ganymede already told me. I’m glad you told me too. I know we can’t trust Luthor or any of the big names in Gotham, but I guess not everyone is lost. Clark was right in inviting children to the program.”

“Jester did go back,” Jason pointed out.

Bruce shrugged.

“Joker hates Luthor and I bet he loves the chaos he can make in Gotham,” he commented. “And she made friends here, I noticed you lot were protective of that. I don’t think she’ll try to attack Nova Urbia and kill several of her friends in the process.”

“No, she wouldn’t,” Jason agreed and rubbed his face, cleaning the tear-tracks.

Bruce observed him for a second, then came to a decision that would make Jordan win a bet.

“Follow me, I want you to meet someone,” he said and walked to the door.

Jason looked confused at his back, and when Bruce exited the room Jason ran after him.


	25. Chapter 25

Clark was pretty much everyone’s friend. He was kind and patient and a good guy in general. He would never harm anybody and he wouldn’t even think about it without feeling guilty. So, when he promised himself that he would definitely punch Hal in the face if he so much as mentioned Bruce’s adopting tendencies, he knew it was serious.

The supers and the bats lived all together in a farm at the borders of Nova Urbia. Well, more like a huge ass manor with cornfields and a barn and lots of animals. Bruce built it, then Alfred pointed out they’ll need more rooms if all the children were to live in it. Clark often thought that Alfred was the one who wanted the big house, but Bruce seemed happy when, indeed, all their children ended up living with them.

Whereas in Gotham Batman was the legend, in Nova Urbia that title fell on Alfred Pennyworth, former butler of Wayne family. He was taken by Brainiac to try and trap the Bat, of course, it didn’t work, and Alfred showed why he had been Batman’s butler and confident (and parent figure) for most of his life when he destroyed one of Brainiac’s ships.

He was very protective of his family, including the Kents, and everyone, in turn, was very protective of him.

So, when Damian found him and Jason talking quietly over a cup of tea in the kitchen, it was understandable that the bat jumped on Hood with his katana in hand.

Alfred looked unimpressed when Jason was finale able to take the katana away and pin down the youngest Wayne on the kitchen floor.

“Unhand me, you idiot!” Damian ordered.

Jason huffed, pushing him down harder with his body. The teen had a few cuts on his face and the sleeves of his jacket.

“You owe me a new jacket, hellspawn,” he growled.

“I owe you nothing!” Damian glared, or tried to, from his position under the teen. “You’re intruding in my house drinking my tea! I shall kill you for stepping in the farm.”

“Did you also threaten Axel when Jon brought him?” Jason frowned. “Cause if you did, you gotta know you’ll have to defeat me before going against them.”

“Oh, that’s enough,” Alfred said, pouring a new cup of tea for Jason and another one for Damian. “Master Damian threatens everyone when he first meets them,” he looked pointedly at them and Jason stood and sat back on the stool. Damian glared at both of them but sat on his stool and took a sip of the tea. “Mister Wilkes and Master Jon are the exceptions to that sort of welcome.”

“Jon was but a baby when he first arrived,” Damian scoffed. “And father had all the kryptonite, everyone would’ve known my threats were empty.”

“That didn’t stop from threatening Miss Kara or Mister Chris,” Alfred pointed out with an almost unnoticeable smug smile. “Or Mister Conner that one time Master Tim left him alone.”

“Don’t tell me you defended Timy’s pride,” Jason teased. “I bet he was impressed.”

“Do not talk to me like that,” Damian growled. “I only told him if he hurt Drake then he’ll have to endure his punishment.”

Jason rolled his eyes. The brat was only an overprotective brother with grandeur problems.

“Great, Damian’s given you the speech,” Tim entered the kitchen as if invoked, glancing at the forgotten katana near the fridge before turning his eyes back to the tablet on his hands. “Bruce told me you’ll be staying with us.”

“What!” Damian jumped from the stool.

“I’ll show you your room and we can take the batmobile back to the Hall to get your stuff.”

Jason stared wide-eyed, tea forgotten.

“He said that?”

Tim looked up from the tablet and found Damian’s disbelief and Jason’s surprise. Only Alfred seemed unfazed by the news.

“Oh,” Tim said. “He still didn’t ask you right? I’ll be back then.”

He rushed out of the kitchen while Jason and Damian turned to Alfred with confused expressions.

“I wouldn’t be so surprised, Master Damian,” the butler said and took a sip of his tea. “Everyone knows Master Bruce’s real weakness is an orphan in need of a family. Besides, Miss Cassandra had invited Miss Duela to move in if she ever wished to stay in Gotham.”

Damian frowned.

“But Jon said Axel was staying in the farm too,” he muttered. “We don’t have enough rooms, Pennyworth! You gotta tell father!”

Alfred chuckled.

“I assure you, sir, we do have enough rooms for everyone.”

Damian was about to argue when Jon peeked around the door with a pout.

“You didn’t look for us, Dami,” he said, then he glanced at Jason and smiled brightly. “Hi, Jay! Wanna play hide and seek?”

“Who else is playing?” Jason asked at the same time Damian hissed “no, he doesn’t.”

“Dick, Conner, and Axel,” Jon answered, ignoring Damian.

“He has to go get his stuff,” Damian intervened, standing between Jason and Jon, facing Jason with a frown.

Jason couldn’t help but snicker. Was he jealous?

“He’s right,” Jason send a smile Jon’s way. “But I’ll play with you later, I’m gonna live here too, apparently.”

Jon cheered and flew over Damian to hug Jason.

“I knew you’ll like Nova Urbia! I’ll show you around the farm!”

Jason nodded, feeling a little awkward with a hugging superkid on his lap.

“Let’s go find Grayson and Walker,” Damian huffed, dragging Jon from his cape and Jon allowed him, floating behind him when Damian stepped out the room. “I told you not everyone likes hugs.”

“But no one ever says no,” Jon protested. “And no one has ever pushed me away. Not even your dad, and sometimes he pushes my dad away from him.”

“T.t.”

“Welcome to the Wayne-Kent farm,” Alfred smiled over the rim of his cup. “Master Jason.”


	26. Chapter 26

Jester cleaned the blood from her split lip, then spat at the sorcerer’s feet.

Circe was angry because she left her magic-supplier back at Nova Urbia as if Jester had any say on their collective decision to stay. She only wanted to cross the woods and go back to Amusement Mile, but then Circe asked how she opened the Border to get back in and saw Raven’s gem.

Knowing the witch wanted it, Jester threw it against a rock and broke it. Its magic faded in the air and Crice cried in anger only to immobilize Jester with a simple word.

“You know,” Jester drawled, tasting her blood in her mouth. “Dad always says one shouldn’t start hitting the head,” Circe slapped her again. “I think he’s right. I didn’t feel that one,” she smirked.

“You foolish girl,” Circe growled and her eyes glowed for a second. “You shouldn’t have come back. You’re as much a traitor as the rest and it will be my pleasure to punish you.”

“He- You’re just angry Joker deserves more loyalty than you,” she spat. “I came back while your dear Ganymede preferred those goodie magic users.”

Circe hummed and her eyes shone with a new dangerous gleam.

“Oh, poor girl,” she mocked. “You came back, but your ‘dad’ has already replaced you.”

Jester blinked twice before it dawned on her.

“He wouldn’t,” she defended.

“Harley thought the same,” Circe shrugged and dropped the spell, Jester fell on the ground with a huff. “This new girl, she exiled Harley from the Mile. Now, mom’s playing gardener.”

Jester narrowed her eyes. Circe was lying. She had to be.

“I admit I like your name more,” Circe continued mocking the clown. “Punch-Line is such a bad joke, and her preferred weapon? I rather liked Harley’s mallet. It had a… clownish tone to it. You should pick something like that rather than boring blades.”

When she turned back to Jester, the girl was gone.

Jester chose to hide and run to the Mile as soon as possible instead of fighting her way through. She had to make sure… She knew Joker would never… Still, she had to see it.

“Dad?” She called, breaking into the Fun House. “Dad! I’m back!”

A cold unamused cackle made her turn. There she was, an unknown woman with black hair and green eyes. She was standing in the middle of the room, watching the teenager entered her home.

“I think you’re lost,” Punch-Line said.

“And I think you’re nuts,” Jester glared, trying to hide how anxious she felt. “Where's my dad?”

“Probably dead,” Punch-Line answered, raising a blade to her eye-level to study it nonchalantly. “It’s hard to say if he died or if he simply abandoned you. We’ll need a name to be sure, but Joker told me you didn’t know a thing about yourself.”

“Where. Is. He.”

“Busy,” Punch-Line looked boringly at Jester while the younger glared. “He has no time for you. We’re taking over Gotham. Little girls crying all over the place won’t help.”

“I want to talk to him,” Jester growled. “He’d want to see me.”

Punch-Line walked closer like a predator savoring her prey.

“Listen carefully,” she hissed. “I’m gonna tell you the same I told Harley,” she stopped inches away from Jester towering over the younger girl. “I’m in charge now. Joker only wants to see blood. He finds me amusing and he loves my job,” she put a blade over Jester’s chest and bent to be eye-level with Jester. “If I were you I’ll stay away unless you want me to cut you open for him to laugh.”

“He’ll kill you,” Jester growled and glared at the woman, holding back angry tears.

“Not if he doesn’t recognize the body,” the woman answered. “And he won’t.”

Jester kicked her away from her and jumped out through the same window she had gotten in. She didn’t wait to see if Punch-Line would follow, she ran around the Fun House looking for the Joker.

Before she could find him something hit her neck. She stumbled and fell on her knees. She saw a blurry Punch-Line smirked at someone behind her. That someone threw her over their shoulder and carried her away from Amusement Mile, from home.

The last thing she heard before falling unconscious:

“Waller,” a male voice. “I’ve got the clown.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that's all folks.  
> tell me if you'd like a second part, I didn't plan on adding the suicide squad but I watched Assault on Arkham and Waller gave me the idea *shrugs*  
> I know this is not the best, definitely not my best, but as I said in the beginning I only wrote this for fun. I could continue the story, Jester my favorite OC


End file.
